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JY C. A. NORCROSS 



COMMISSIOXER^INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURE 
AXD IRRIGATION 



ISSUED By 
SUNSET MAGAZINE HOMESEEKERS BUREAU 
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 



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MAIN DAM ON THE TRUCKEE IRRIGATION DITCH 



CHAPTER I 

In Which Is Contained Much that Is Decidedly at Variance with Outside Public Opinion Concerning the 
Agricultural Resources and Possibilities of this Great Arid-land State 

A ST ATE where no special attention until recently has been paid to its agricultural 
resources; desolate and unpropitious when viewed from the car windows of the 
L transcontinental trains which traverse little of its farming sections; and for fifty 
years given over to mining as its paramount industry, with stock-raising second and farm- 
ing third in the industrial list; with a preconceived opinion in the minds of the public 
that, generally speaking, it is as hopeless of transformation into fields of husbandry as 
are the tablelands of central Asia, or the Desert of Sahara — Nevada is somewhat handi- 
capped in its appeal to homeseekers in that conditions are not what they are understood 
to be and that this great inland empire has its own marvelous agricultural destiny. 

Progress of Agriculture and Irrigation. 

But we have been making progress the last few decades, and very much so in agri- 
culture and irrigation. In keeping with this advance, economic pressure is constantly 
crowding the surplus population of the country into every opening and available field 
of opportunity. Necessity — that wise old mother of invention — has the comfortable 
faculty about the time we are apparently up against a stone wall to disclose that the 
wall is not an obstacle after all, but is capable of being turned to very excellent advantage. 

Now, it happens that while many are bewailing that all the desirable public lands 
have been appropriated and no further opportunity is left the homeseeker, irrigation and 
agricultural progress — more particularly the conservation of the natural sources of water- 
supply, improved methods of irrigation, and more intensive methods of farming — have 



quietly and without much ado embraced areas of the public domain once thought value- 
less within the domain of opportunity for settlement. Moreover it is a question whether 
the settler on the portion of public domain remaining unappropriated has not opportunities 
fully equal, if not better, than the Western pioneers of half a century ago. The landless 
of to-day overlook the fact that those early pioneers, while they unquestionably had the 
choice of lands easiest of cultivation, were yet heavily handicapped by distance to trans- 
portation lines and absence of social and educational opportunities. The twentieth 
century settler need not go beyond easy access to transportation lines, and ordinarily will 
find in the arid West, more particularly in Nevada, that he can procure land capable of 
reclamation and of producing, under irrigation, bountiful crops within close proximity 
to railroads, schools, churches, social opportunities and local as well as general markets. 
But the handicap of the first pioneer settlers, which is here obviated, is exchanged for 
another of a different character — the necessity of providing water for irrigation. 

The Four Factors of Agriculture. 

There are three factors which are essential to successful agriculture, in addition 
to the fourth which is the human factor of plowing, planting, and harvesting, namely: 
climate, with respect to the mean and extreme range of temperature of the seasons ; soil, 
with respect to the constituents required for plant life, and humidity, with respect to the 
moisture necessary to grow crops. The latter factor in the arid region must be supplied 
by irrigation. It was once thought that Nature could not be improved upon by any 
artificial means of supplementing a natural deficiency of humidity. But that belief has 
been overthrown by the comparative results of the fruitfulness of like soils: in the one 
instance dependent on the uncertainties of rainfall, and in the other on moisture 
within the control of the agriculturist, to be given his crops when needed and withheld 
when not. Farmers who have had experience under both conditions are substantially 
unanimous in their preference of irrigation over rainfall. It is contended that not only 
is there a greater certainty of harvest, but that, other conditions being equal, equivalent 
lands will grow larger crops under skilful irrigation than with rainfall. 

We have stated that Nevada, contrary to prevailing opinion, holds the promise of a 
great agricultural future. On what ground is this outlook based? The answer is: On 
climate, soil and irrigation; the conservation of the surface and subsurface waters 
of the State to supplement the deficiency of climatic humidity. 

THE CLIMATE OF NEVADA 

Nevada has a range of climate greater than any other state or territory, with the 
single exception of California. Its northern boundary is the same as that of Pennsylvania, 
its southern boundary is on the same parallel as the northern boundary of Mississippi, 
Alabama and Georgia. It wedges Southern California from Arizona on the south; and 
north, it adjoins Oregon and Idaho. Southern Nevada is semi-tropical, almost frostless, 
and with a growing season of over nine months' duration. Northern Nevada has a 
climate with moderate winters, temperate summers and a five-months' normal growing 
season from the middle of April to October. The elevations of its valleys are not 
extreme — from 3,000 to 5,500 feet in the northern and central parts of the State, and 
from 2,000 to 4,000 feet in southern Nevada. These altitudes are lower than many 
of the most fertile valleys of the other intermontane states. 

Separating these valleys, one from another, are mountain ranges, some of great and 
others of moderate elevation, with a general north and south trend. These have a modify- 
ing effect upon meteorological conditions, tending to cause the precipitation of moisture 
on the high peaks and ranges rather than in the valleys and to temper the intense heat 
of summer in the latter with cooling winds from the mountains. The atmosphere is clear, 
healthful and invigorating. The absence of humidity during the summer months causes 
the earth, after sunset, to radiate its heat into space, with the result that even in southern 
Nevada the nights are comfortable. Between June first and the beginning of October, in 



northern and central Nevada frosts rarely ever occur, and in southern Nevada frosts 
are confined to the late fall and winter months. Contrary to the belief of those 
unfamiliar with the climate of the State, the winters are as a rule mild. The stormiest 
season is from the middle of January to the middle of March. Snow rarely falls to a 
depth greater than two feet in the valleys, and the normal duration of snow on the ground 
is from three to five weeks. April and May are unsettled — days of balmy spring weather 
alternating with cold "snaps," raw winds and frosts. By the first of June, however, 
and frequently earlier, steady summer weather begins and lasts until October, with 
warm and hot cloudless days and cool but frostless nights. About October first 
occurs the equmoctial storm, lasting about ten days and usually accompanied with 
the heaviest rain of the year. After this, the remainder of October, all of November and 
frequently the greater part of December is glorious fall weather, compensating with its 
charms the disagreeable features of the spring. 

Manifestly, on this showing, which is confirmed by reference to meteorological 
records, the climate of Nevada is generally, and in some instances extraordinarily, favor- 
able to agriculture. 

RICH AND FRUITFUL SOIL 

Is the soil of Nevada's valleys inferior or destitute of the elements which nurture 
plant life? 

Nature, to initiate, in this State has placed in her natural desert flora an almost 
infallible criterion of soil values. Ordinarily, in northern and central Nevada, the 
growth and thnftiness of the black sagebrush is determinative of the character of the 
soil, and only in exceptional cases the rule does not apply. 

The alkali deserts are barren of vegetation other than a few stunted weeds and thorn- 
bushes. These deserts, in the present stage of agricultural science, at least, are hopeless 
of reclamation and are only valuable for their mineral contents of salt, soda, and borax. 

Natural Soil Classifications. 

The following classification of soil values, based on the character of the desert flora 
in Nevada, will be found substantially correct in almost every instance: 

Luxuriant black sagebrush, from three to five feet high, denotes invariably a 
rich soil with all the constituents required by plant life including nitrogen and humus 
in abundance. Such land in Nevada w:ll yield bountifully any crop within the 
climatic range. 

Medium black sagebrush, from two to three feet high, reasonably thrifty in 
appearance, indicates invariably good soil free from alkali, with sufficient nitrogen, 
humus, and all other necessary constituents required by plant life. Such land under 
irrigation will produce in northern and central Nevada from three to seven tons of 
alfalfa to the acre, twenty-five to fifty bushels of wheat, or from 1 75 to 400 bushels of 
potatoes, and relatively all other crops within the climatic range. 

Medium black sagebrush with greasewood, with occasionally thorn-bush or 
shadscale intermixed, or patches of wild rye, denotes first of all surface moisture and 
usually a soil rich in humus and nitrogen. The presence and relative thriftiness of the 
black sagebrush is the natural criterion by which to judge of the quantity of alkali con- 
tained. If the black sagebrush thrives, the fear of excess alkali in the soil may be 
dismissed. Lands of this character will frequently grow wheat, rye, emmer, potatoes and 
certain other crops without irrigation, due to the soil moisture naturally present, when 
dry-farming methods are followed. There are thousands of acres of land of this char- 
acter in the State susceptible of cultivation without irrigation, which at the present time 
are lying fallow. Most of this is in private ownership, chiefly of stockmen. 

Stunted black sagebrush and thorn-bush are indicative of a soil deficient 
in nitrogen and humus, but not essentially of the other constituents required for crop-grow- 
ing. The nitrogen and humus may be supplied, where the conditions otherwise are 
favorable, and such land be made very productive. Land of this character should be 




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subjected to soil analysis as a determinative, with which its location and climatic conditions 
will govern the profitableness of its reclamation. 

ShaDSCALE and SALTBRUSH are indicative of alkali more frequently than other- 
wise, and grow in the lowlands along the course of the drainage of alkaline waters from the 
uplands. 

The moisture and heat variant, or relative aridity of one section of the State with 
another, is to be given consideration as modifying to some extent the foregoing classifica- 
tions, more especially with respect to the thriftiness of the black sagebrush. The relative 
degree of moisture normally present in the soil will be reflected in a greater or less growth 
of black sagebrush on equivalent soils, provided the moisture is not excessive. Beyond a 
certain limit of soil moisture, it is to be understood that black sagebrush will not thrive 
but is displaced by greasewood, nor will black sagebrush grow upon lands containing 
more than a negligible quantity of alkali. 

Area of Arable Land in Nevada. 

Among the states and territories, Nevada ranks fourth in area, with 110,690 
square miles of surface; 869 of which is water. The land area may be roughly classified, 
from the agricultural standpoint, into three groups, namely: alkali wastes and barrens; 
mountainous and rolling grazing lands, and arable valley lands. While no accurate 
computation has yet been made by either the State or the National Government of the lands 
in each group, sufficient data is obtainable on which to base a reasonable approximation. 
According to such calculations, the alkali deserts and verdureless barrens occupy approxi- 
mately one-sixth of the total area of the State, or about 12,000,000 acres. The moun- 
tains, hilly and rolling lands, unsuitable for agriculture but affording excellent range for 
cattle and sheep, and on which 500,000 head of cattle and 1 ,500,000 head of sheep find 
subsistence, is estimated at 40,000,000 acres. The total area of arable valley lands is 
estimated at not less than 1 8,000,000 acres. The immensity of this latter acreage may 
be conceived when it is stated that it is equivalent in area to all of Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire and Rhode Island combined. 

Any average quarter-section of this 1 8,000,000 acres of arable land under irrigation 
will support a family; on no inconsiderable portion of it, eighty acres under cultivation will 
support a family, and under intensive farming and fruit-raising, in many instances, sixty, 
forty, and as low as twenty acres will support a family. Including natural grass meadows, 
less than five per cent., or only about 750,000 acres of this arable area, is today under 
cultivation. But the farms that are reclaimed are an indication of the wonderful possi- 
bilities of the soil, latent until released to fruitfulness by the magic of irrigation! 

THE REAL PROBLEM— WATER 

On the foregoing showing, the problem for solution in the reclamation and colonization 
of Nevada involves neither climate nor soil. The climate is propitious! the soil of at 
least 18,000,000 acres is all that could reasonably be desired by the husbandman! The 
problem instead is to correct the deficiency of climatic humidity by artificial irrigation. 
Water is the talisman of the desert — without which the desert is, and with which the 
desert vanishes, transformed into waving fields of alfalfa and grain, the verdure of 
plant and fruit, tree and shrubbery, the homes of farmers, and the seats of villages, towns 
and cities. 

Between the settler and the fruitfulness of the land lies this problem of water, and it 
is our purpose here neither to underestimate nor overestimate the difficulties which must 
be conquered. If unconquerable, there would be no necessity for this booklet. On the 
other hand, nothing will be gained by minimizing the obstacles which must be overcome. 
For a settler who under a false statement of facts might be induced to come to Nevada 
expecting to select a homestead on the public domain, and through his own efforts and at 
small outlay to develop a water right for it, would not find such conditions existing 
except in rare instances, and his grievance at the misrepresentation would be genuine. 



While, unquestionably, there are many isolated tracts of land in Nevada on which a 
settler might discover and by his unaided endeavors conserve a water-supply for its 
reclamation, it is to be understood that such instances are essentially rare and not every 
search by the homeseeker might find reward. 

Where, then, is the opportunity for the settler in Nevada? This will be answered 
clearly and definitely in the succeeding pages, after a discussion of the water-supply of 
the State, which is first in order. 

Water-Supply of Nevada. 

In that third of the United States lying between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, 
on the east, and the beginning of the Rocky Mountains on the west, the country is level 
or undulating, without mountains or hills of any altitude worth mentioning. The result 
is a comparatively even distribution of rainfall throughout extensive areas. The topog- 
raphy of Nevada on the contrary shows approximately two hundred valleys, great and 
small, separated from one another by mountain ranges, anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 
feet higher than the valley levels. The effect of this on the distribution of rainfall is 
marked. The mountains gather the storms, intercept the precipitation, and while the 
valleys occasionally get rain or snow, the ratio between the rainfall of the latter and the 
mountains is probably not more than one to three. When it is stated that the average 
annual precipitation in the valleys of northern, eastern and western Nevada is not likely 
more than eight inches, in central Nevada not more than five inches, and in southern 
Nevada not more than four inches, this should not be understood to represent but a small 
part of the actual rainfall over the State. Moreover, there is often a wide variation in 
rainfall between one valley and another immediately adjoining it but separated by a 
mountain barrier. Several valleys have an annual precipitation very much greater than 
the averages stated above, others considerably less. 

Effects of Mountains on Humidity. 

These mountain ranges are factors of supreme importance in the agricultural reclama- 
tion of the State. The winter snow is conserved in the higher altitudes to melt gradually 
during the spring and summer, giving rise to the streams and rivers which supply water 
for irrigation. Moreover, the mountain valleys and caiions afford many opportunities for 
storage reservoirs. A dam thrown across the outlet of an upland valley through which 
a stream Hows, or which is surrounded by a large catchment basin, impounds the waters. 
The run-off which otherwise would flow to waste in the early spring before irrigation 
begins and in the fall after irrigation ceases, is thus conserved and regulated to flow only 
when required for crop-growing. 

Stream measurements of all the principal rivers of the State disclose the fact that 
without a water-storage system on a given stream, about seventy per cent, of the total 
annual run-off flows to waste during the non-irrigation season. As only a small fraction of 
the flood waters of the Nevada streams is yet conserved by water-storage system, it 
follows that not more than a third of the actual surface water-supply is yet utilized for 
irrigation. The field thus left open for reclamation enterprises is attracting lively attention 
at the present time, and will be discussed more fully under the chapter relating to the 
Carey Act. 

Principal Rivers and Streams. 

The waters of only five small rivers in Nevada reach the ocean, namely: the Virgin 
River with its tributary, the Muddy, in southern Nevada, which flows into the Colorado 
and thence into the Gulf of California; and the Owyhee, Bruneau and Salmon in northern 
Nevada which are tributaries of the Snake and the latter in turn of the Columbia. All 
the other streams either flow into lakes without outlets or ultimately disappear by 
evaporation or by percolation. 



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The principal riveis are the Humbolcit, Truckee, Carson, Walker, Reese, Muddy, 
Owyhee, Quinn, Virgin, Bruneau, Salmon and White. In addition to these are a great 
number of creeks and brooks which in some instances are feeders of the larger streams, and 
in others are independent and lose themselves in the valleys. To these sources of water- 
supply for irrigation must be added springs which occur in many parts of the State 
and from which considerable bodies of land are irrigated; also, artesian or subsurface 
waters, which latter have challenged special interest within the last two years and will be 
discussed separately. 

Water Rights and Appropriated Waters. 

Water, under the laws of the West, is subject to appropriation. The essence of 
ownership, however, is "beneficial use," without which no right exists. In the ownership 
of water, the season during which it is put to beneficial use is a limitation as well. 
Therefore, a farmer who has a water right will be protected in its enjoyment during the 
irrigation season, but during the remainder of the year any one else may make application 
for all or a part of that which flows to waste, termed "flood waters," and on impounding 
and putting the same to beneficial use may acquire ownership. 

The natural flow of nearly all the streams during the irrigation season is already 
appropriated. But only a relatively small portion of the flood waters are appropriated. 
The State law permits the applicant for the flood waters of a stream to acquire by con- 
demnation proceedings any lands in private ownership required for storage reservoirs, 
diverting canals and ditches. The appraised value is based on the actual use to which 
the land proposed to be condemned is put by the owner. As this is usually grazing, the 
acreage value is not high. If the reservoir site be on the public domain it may be secured 
by application to the Government. 

We have stated that the appropriated waters of the State are utilized in the irrigation 
of approximately 750,000 acres of land. Were the flood waters of the streams that now 
flow to waste during the non-irrigation season impounded and conserved to flow only 
during the irrigation season, and all such surface-waters put to a reasonably high irrigation 
duty in place of the present more or less wasteful methods, it Is safe to say that such waters 
would be sufficient to reclaim and put under a high state of cultivation not less than 
3.000.000 acres of land. 

Water Storage Systems Require Capital. 

Unfortunately for the homeseeker, water-storage enterprises are expensive undertakings 
and, as a rule, have to be carried out on a scale sufficiently large to reclaim many hundreds 
of thousands of acres of land in order to brmg the relative cost per acre within reasonable 
limits. Therefore, preceding the settler in such cases must ordinarily come the "reclamation 
project," carried through at the expense of the national or state governments or by 
private capital operating under the Carey Act. The storage reservoirs and diverting 
canals are constructed to bring the water to the land, when the land with the water right 
is sold to settlers on Instalment payments covering usually ten years. A number of such 
enterprises are In progress In Nevada at the present time, the most notable being the 
Truckee-Carson National Reclamation Project in Churchill County. Carey Act projects 
by private enterprise covering proposals to reclaim something over one million acres of 
land are in various stages of progress, from that of the temporary withdrawal to deter- 
mine the feasibility of the project, through the stage of final segregation of the lands and 
contract with the State to construct the Irrigation works. 

During the year 1912 and thereafter, portions of the lands of certain of these projects 
will be thrown open to entrymen. Under the State law water must be available for 
delivery to the entrymen before the land of a Carey Act project may be sold to settlers. 

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SUBSURFACE WATERS 

In the foregoing we have discussed only surface waters. But in the last two years 
increasing attention has been given to the possibilities of reclamation by utilizing subsurface 
waters. Underground streams and lakes have been discovered at varying depths in many 
valleys. One would imagine that a state with such little rainfall and where evaporation 
is so great would be the last section of the country wherein bodies of underground water 
might be expected. The contrary appears to be true. In about twenty different valleys 
borings have been made, and in nearly all of these artesian flows have been encountered. 
Nor has the depth been great, usually between 200 and ■^OO feet. Some wells have 
found flows as shallow as 80 feet, and in only comparatively few instances has it been 
necessary to go deeper than 500 feet. 

What is the origin of this artesian water? In most instances it may be satisfactorily 
accounted for as coming from the percolation of melting snows in the porous strata of 
contiguous mountam ranges and which is retained under pressure in ths bordering valley 
basins by an impervious stratum above. But in many instances artesian water exists as 
abundantly in the regions of least rainfall. The most probable explanation of the latter 
phenomenon is made clear when we examine cross-sections of the surface contour of the 
State. From the region of greatest rainfall, including the extraordinary precipitation on 
the eastern slopes of the Sierras, there is a general southeasterly slope or decrease of 
surface elevation towards the Colorado River. It is well established that water has a 
gravity movement or flow underground as well as on the surface wherever opportunity 
exists. It is therefore quite probable that some portions, at least, of the underground waters 
found in southern Nevada were originally precipitated upon mountains and in valleys 
hundreds of miles distant. 

The economic feasibility of developing subsurface water for irrigation depends upon 
three factors, namely: the cost of the well, the quantity of its flow, and the value of the 
land for agricultural purpose when reclaimed. 

The last factor is the only one of the three which can be closely estimated in advance. 
The character of the soil, climatic conditions and proximity to market and transportation 
lines will enable a very accurate estimate to be made of the value of the land proposed to 
be reclaimed when under cultivation. Suppose the land be covered with a thrifty growth 
of black sagebrush, indicative of good soil, in northern and central Nevada such land 
will bring in a gross average income from $25 to $40 per acre, if in alfalfa; $20 to $50 
per acre if in wheat; $75 to $300 per acre if in potatoes, and proportionally in all other 
crops. In the nine-months-long season of southern Nevada, where from eight to twelve tons 
of alfalfa per acre are grown, and fruits, cantaloupes, and other intensive farm-crops 
grow luxuriantly as well, the income of good land with water sufficient for its irrigation 
will range anywhere from $50 to $400 per acre. 

Quantity of Water Required for Irrigation. 

The quantity of water required per acre in all instances will vary according to the 
nature of the soil : whether porous and gravelly, or loamy and compact, and the proximity 
to subsurface moisture. On ordinary soils and under average climatic conditions, it has 
been determined that one-half an acre foot of water for each month of the irrigation 
season is usually sufficient. But it is to be understood that soils and climatic conditions 
vary, and while a less quantity might be ample on naturally moist and loamy soils, certain 
deep gravelly soils will require considerably more. Also, that there is a variation in the 
quantity of water required by different plants. The half-acre foot per month during 
the irrigation season, however, is a safe rule in the majority of instances. This is equiva- 
lent to a constant flow of 3.75 gallons per minute. 

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Artesian Wells. 

The most practical artesian well is one having a casing diameter of 10, 12 or 14 
inches. The cost of a 1 0-inch artesian well from 350 to 400 feet deep will be ordi- 
narily somewhere between $1,000 and $1,250. Taking the higher figure as the cost of 
the well, a flow of 375 gallons per minute would be sufficient to irrigate 100 acres of land 
on the basis of one-half acre foot per month per acre. The cost of the water right would 
be, therefore, $12.50 per acre. On the other hand, a flow of but 125 gallons per minute 
would afford sufficient water for but 33 acres, making the cost of the water right $37.50 
per acre. Shallow wells are proportionally less expensive, and many of the best wells 
so far drilled in the State are not over 250 feet. The flows of 10-inch wells range from 
as low as 50 gallons per minute to as high as 1,350 gallons per minute, in the case of the 
Passno well at Las Vegas. 

"With the factors of depth and flow indeterminable, except by actual drilling, and 
varying not only in each locality but with each well, it is obviously impossible to give 
other than a qualified estimate of the probable average cost of artesian water rights per 
acre of land. This is likely somewhere in the neighborhood of $20. But such estimate 
is not submitted other than as an approximation. The chief point to be considered is 
that artesian well drilling to reclaim arid lands is receiving such increasing impetus since 
its inception into Nevada as to preclude any thought that the average results are other than 
economically profitable. "Where two years ago there was little or no drilling being done, 
at the present time there are perhaps twenty or more drilling outfits in active commission in 
different parts of the State. 

Cheap Power for Pumping. 

That cheap power is available in western and parts of southern Nevada will surprise 
many. Such, nevertheless, is the fact. The tremendous development of mining and its 
demand for power has stimulated the construction of hydro-electric power plants on the 
streams flowing from the eastern slopes of the Sierras, particularly on the Truckee and 
Owens rivers. About 20,000 horse-power is at present generated and conveyed by pole 
and wire lines for hundreds of miles in western and southern Nevada, supplying light and 
power for cities, towns and villages, mines, mills and manufactories, and traversing in 
their courses mountains and valleys, farming sections and arable wastes. These power 
lines have excess power in the spring and summer during 19 hours of the day, or other 
than between 6 and 1 1 o'clock in the evening, the time of the "peak load." Rates for 
power pumping for irrigation for 19 hours a day can be obtained at from 1.2 cents to 1.5 
cents per kilowatt hour. This is equivalent to gasoline power at about 8 cents per gallon. 

Cost of Electric Power Pumping. 

On the basis of 50 per cent, efficiency for the pumping plant, the power cost of 
pumping one acre foot of water 10 feet elevation, with electric power at 1.5 cents per 
kilowatt hour, will be 31 cents; 20 feet elevation, 62 cents; 30 feet elevation, 93 cents; 40 
feet elevation, $1.24, and 50 feet elevation, $1.55. On the basis of three acre feet of 
water required to irrigate the land, the power charge per acre would be at 10 feet pumping 
elevation, 93 cents per season; at 20 feet pumping elevation, $1.86; at 30 feet, $2.79; at 
40 feet, $3.72, and at 50 feet, $4.65. These figures do not include allowance for 
deterioration, replacements and maintenance. With electric power the cost of maintenance 
is largely negligible, since the plant requires but little attention. The annual charge for 
deterioration and replacements may be estimated ordinarily at about 1 5 per cent, of the 
cost of the pumping plant. 

A New Field for Reclamation. 

It will be at once apparent that where water in sufficient quantity may be obtained 
at a pumping elevation not greater than 50 feet with electric power at such rates, pumping 
water for irrigation is economically feasible even for the growing of ordinary farm staples 

16 



such as alfalfa and grain. Where more valuable crops are grown, such as potatoes, 
fruits and market vegetables, the pumping lift may be 1 00 feet or more and still be 
within economical limits. The field that is thus opened is one to which very little attention 
has yet been given. Nevertheless, it is bound to challenge marked attention in the 
immediate future. Not only is the electrically-driven pump, in time, coming into its own 
in this State as a means of stimulating the flows of artesian or driven wells, but in many 
places water in abundance may be found in gravel strata 20 to 30 feet below the surface, 
and here the farmer may dig his well at odd times without appreciable expense and 
install a pumping plant at not excessive cost. Also, there are many places where it will 
be found cheaper to pump the water from a stream having little grade or fall to the 
land on its bank, than to secure rights of way and construct a ditch several miles in 
length to bring it upon the land by gravity flow. 

An artesian well with an insufficient flow may be equipped with a pumping plant 
and a very large flow obtained. It is to be remembered that the pressure of a column of 
water 50 feet high is 21.68 lbs. per square inch; hence a pump in an artesian well, 
taking the lift 50 feet below the surface, may increase the flow surprisingly. More often 
than otherwise it will be found far more economical if electric power is available to equip 
a well with a pumping plant than to sink additional wells to secure the required amount 
of water. In recent years a great advance has been made in deep-well and centrifugal 
pumps suitable for irrigation pumping. One style of pump may be adapted to one set of 
conditions and unsuited to another, and it is very desirable that those contemplating the 
installation of a pumping plant get the best disinterested engineering advice. The Nevada 
farmer who is in doubt as to what style of pumping plant he may require should take 
up the matter with the State Engineer. 

TRANSPORTATION 

The practical homeseeker who has read the foregoing, with his interest and attention 
awakened, will at once put the question: "What are your market conditions? If I raise 
crops in Nevada, can I sell them? What are the transportation facilities to ship in what 
I require and to get to market what I produce?" 

Replying to the latter question first: Three transcontinental railroad lines cross the 
State from east to west, the Southern Pacific, the Western Pacific (only recently com- 
pleted), and the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. The first two traverse 
northern and central Nevada and the last mentioned, southern Nevada. In addition to 
these main lines, there are branches and feeders traversing the agricultural valleys and 
extending to the leading mining camps, aggregating a total length of over 1 ,000 miles. 

Until within about a year, freight rates were excessively high. Since the rulings, how- 
ever, of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1910 and 1911 on class and commodity 
rates affecting Nevada, transportation charges are as reasonable as elsewhere. The effect 
of these traffic decisions is already felt in stimulating the industrial growth of the principal 
towns on the transcontinental lines. This is more particularly true of Reno, the metropolis 
of the State, which, by reason of its location as a distributing point, is succeeding to the 
wholesaling business for northern, central and western Nevada, hitherto monopolized by 
the Coast terminals. 

Railroad transportation at reasonable rates therefor may be found conveniently 
accessible to nearly all the valleys, the exceptions being those in the extreme northern 
and south-central parts. Projected railroad lines are surveyed to traverse much of this 
territory. 

THE MARKET FOR FARM CROPS 

The market conditions in Nevada for home-grown agricultural products are unsur- 
passed in America. This is a large statement to make, but is borne out by an investigation 
of the facts. 

We must remember that, relatively, only about the one-hundredth part of the entire 
area of the State is under cultivation, and that the greater portion of the population is not 

17 




TYPE OF THE INDIANS OF NEVADA 



engaged in agriculture but in mining and stock-raising. Finally, it must be borne in mind 
that Nevada is one of the foremost states in raising cattle and sheep, hundreds of thousands 
of head of which are shipped annually to the San Francisco, Chicago, Omaha, Kansas 
City and St. Louis stockyards. Almost all the cattle and a considerable portion of the 
sheep are fattened before shipment in Nevada, consuming approximately 500,000 tons 
annually of alfalfa and other forage grasses fed from the stack. Hay for stock feeding 
sells uniformly at from $6 to $7 per ton on the farm. The finer grades of alfalfa inter- 
mixed with timothy and bluegrass are baled and sold in the towns and mining camps at 
from $12 to $20 per ton. Hay and forage crops, to date, constitute the chief agricultural 
staple, due to the pre-eminence of the stock-raising industry. Very little hay is exported, 
however, on account of the local demand, and this is also true of the cereals. The flour 
mills at Reno, Lovelock, Minden, Nordyke, Paradise and Sheridan not only purchase all 
the local wheat, barley and oats obtainable, but are large importers of these cereals from 
California and Utah. While the price of hay is fixed by the local demand, that of the 
cereals mentioned is governed by outside quotations. 

Potatoes is the principal export crop ; with hay, it is the only agricultural staple 
which the State produces in quantity sufficient for its own consumption. Nevada potatoes 
are said to be the finest grown in America, and all in excess of the local demand commands 
a ready premium in the California markets. The price varies through a considerable range, 
but for the past five years has been as often above as below sixty cents per bushel, or $20 
per ton. The average yield is about six tons of marketable potatoes per acre. Yields as 
high as ten and fifteen tons to the acre are not uncommon where soil conditions are 
specially favorable and the grower is expert. 

The market for all other vegetables, fruits, berries, butter, cheese, eggs, poultry and 
pork required to supply the local consumption of the towns and mining camps, is far in 
excess of local production, and enormous quantities are annually imported. 

1 he Nevada farmer has no unsold crop on his hands at the beginning of the succeeding 
season. Moreover, he is not restricted to one or two possible crops for planting, but may 
choose from a considerable range for rotation in order to get the best results from his land 
and maintain its fertility for the longest period. 

In Conclusion. 

One other important fact needs to be presented in concluding this chapter on the 
agricultural outlook in Nevada. The early agriculturists of this State were primarily 
stockmen and farmers who raised forage crops exclusively. The stockman, unless he 
happened to have acquired a tract of natural meadow, gave little or no attention to land 
reclamation, preferring to buy hay of the farmer to tide his cattle or sheep over a hard 
winter or to fatten them for market, rather than to bother with growing it himself. This 
condition largely obtains still, and its effect has been to direct the agricultural development 
of the State almost exclusively until recently to the growing of hay and forage crops. 
The average Nevada farmer raises alfalfa in preference to anything else, and is not 
tempted by greater profits to grow any other crop. Alfalfa is sure money and requires 
but little attention. Once well seeded and properly irrigated, it will not be necessary to 
plow and replant it oftener than once in ten to fifteen years. Nor have the farmers of 
the State who grow such quantities of alfalfa given as yet any particular attention to 
raising hogs. While beef and mutton are exported in enormous quantities, not enough 
pork is raised to supply the home demand. Yet alfalfa is one of the best of hog foods, 
and the great profit to farmers has been demonstrated of turning a crop such as alfalfa 
into pork. 

The very condition of the agricultural industry in this State, devoted so exclusively to 
forage crops, spells opportunity for the small and intensively cultivated farm. 

19 



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APPLES FROM PARADISE VALLEY, NEVADA 



CHAPTER II 

Social Life in Nevada — The Landscape not Without Compensating Charm — Public Schools — State 
Institutions — Political Government — ^The People 

In the preceding chapter is presented a general survey of the agricultural outlook in 
Nevada. Let us now briefly consider the physical, social and political characteristics of 
the State as a place of residence. 

As before stated, the car windows of the overland trains as the vantage point of 
observation give anything but a true impression of Nevada. None of these three 
railroads passes within observation distance of other than a few isolated tracks of 
cultivated land, and these — seemingly transplanted oases, foreign to their environment — 
serve only to accentuate in the mind of the traveler the sense of overwhelming immensity 
and desolation. He sees nothing that is agricultural in the sense to which he is accus- 
tomed, and gathers his impressions of the social life of the people from the unprepossessing 
visible portions of the stations and towns along the way. What the traveler thus carries 
away with him lacks very much of being an adequate or true picture of Nevada, agri- 
culturally, socially or otherwise. 

Within a little distance of the railroad at Lovelock, for example, is one of the most 
productive farm sections in America, yet the traveler in the Pullman car does not observe 
it. Only the natural grass lowlands of the Truckee Valley, at Reno, may be seen from 
the overland train, the remainder of this highly cultivated valley, as well as the chain 
of rich farm valleys leading south for a hundred miles, are only visible from branch 
lines. And this is characteristic of the State. To see agricultural Nevada one must go 
where the cultivated sections are. 

The Charm of the Nevada Landscape. 

One who has lived for any length of time in sight of the ocean or of lofty moun- 
tains will ever afterwards find something wanting in a landscape without the one or the 
other. It is the lure of their immensity and grandeur which he misses, and the alternating 
moods which the face of Nature presents with every hour of the day and night. The 
morning breaks with a glory unknown to the level plains; the sun in setting paints the 
most wonderful of oriflammes in the sky. Peaks, crags and mountain crests an ever-chang- 
mg panorama, a perpetually unfolding mystery ! And men and women grow quickly to 
love the influence of these far stretches of desert, bounded by the hills, wherein is the 
charm of absolute freedom and the spell of eternal peace. 

The traveler who has gained his impressions of Nevada from a Pullman car, and 
who has, moreover, never lived close enough to Nature to experience what is here stated, 
marvels that any one would choose Nevada as a place of abode. Yet thousands of very 
highly cultivated men and women reside from choice in this State. Indeed, the ratio of 
educated and refined people is fully equal to that of other states. Nevada possesses, 
proportionally to population, an exceptionally large number of resident graduates of 
American and European colleges and universities. This is attributable to the very con- 
ditions under which the State has been forced to make its progress. Mining and reclama- 
tion enterprises have each demanded the highest technical skill and training. Mining 
camps, also, have been a sort of magnet to attract not only the graduates of law and 
medical schools as favorable openings for getting a professional start, but have likewise 
lured young college men of varied attainments who sought fortune where opportunity 
seemed greatest. It is also characteristic of the Western pioneer that as he prospered he 
determined to give his sons and daughters the best education possible. Thus an unusually 
high percentage of the present generation of native Nevadans are college men and women. 

Public School System. 

The founders of the State in adopting a constitution provided that all moneys derived 
from the sale of public lands granted the State by the National Government should be 

21 



invested in United States bonds or the bonds of this and other states, and that the interest 
thereon should be forever dedicated to the support of the pubHc schools. Including the bal- 
ance due on contract lands, the State school fund aggregates, in round numbers, $3,500,- 
000, on which the annual interest is approximately $160,000. In addition to this sum 
about one-fifth of the revenue derived from State taxation is applied to educational purposes. 
Each district is separately taxed for the erection and maintenance of its school buildings. 
The result is an efficient educational system comparing favorably with that of any other 
State. There are country schools wherever five pupils reside within a district; graded 
schools in the towns; one high school at least in every county, culminating with 
the State University, State Normal School and Agricultural College at Reno. Many of 
the recently-erected public school buildings are models of their kind. No people have 
evidenced greater sincerity and generosity in supporting and improving the efficiency of 
their public school system than the citizens of this arid-land commonwealth. 

Roads and Highivavs. 

The roads and highways of the State are kept up by the counties, and while varying 
from poor to excellent, have a good general average. The dry climate is advantageous 
to good roads, and it may be stated as practically true that all roads in Nevada are more 
or less satisfactory, except where there are occasional stretches of sand, and excluding 
some little-traveled mountain roads. A "good-roads" movement is on in the State, and 
many counties are spending considerable sums in road improvement. The State itself is 
engaged in constructing a fine highway from the California to the Utah lines, with convict 
labor. The system is voluntary instead of compulsory and is giving good results. 

Political System. 

The State and counties are governed by a thoroughly organized political system, 
preserving law, order and good government. One is ordinarily as safe in Nevada as he 
would be anywhere else. Election laws are stringently enforced protecting the purity 
of the ballot. The police system is effective and the State's judiciary is of a high order 
of ability and probity. 

The People of Nevada. 

The tourist who seeks for types such as "Alkali Ike" in present-day Nevada, may 
find such in remote places, as well as other opportunities for frontier diversion. It is a 
big State, with a population that is essentially cosmopolitan, and human nature is here 
found in all its characteristics from the highest to the lowest. But social lines are drawn 
as clearly in Nevada as elsewhere. One may find about any kind of society he seeks, 
and the choice is not forced upon him. He will find the substantial majority of the 
people wholesome, temperate, hospitable, generous and self-reliant. A people, in the 
main, accustomed to the comforts and many of the luxuries, who travel much and are 
well informed. Their home and social life is as refined and the conventions of good 
breeding observed as habitually as anywhere else. 

CHAPTER III 

Opportunities in Nevada Requiring Capital — Carey Act Reclamation Projects — Subdividing and 
Colonizing of Large Ranches — Industrial Openings 

The National Government granted the State of Nevada, under what is known as the 
Carey Act, for its selection from any part of the public domain within the State two 
million acres of land. The lands subject to selection must be "desert in character." 
That is to say, they cannot be forest or mineral lands but must essentially be reclaimable 
arable lands. 

Excluding the railroad land grants, forest reserves and all other lands held in private 

22 



ownership, the remaining area of the unappropriated public domain aggregates, in round 
numbers, 56,000,000 acres. Of this area, at least 12,000,000 acres* are capable 
under irrigation of producing crops. From this latter area the two million acres may 
be chosen. The least number of acres which may be selected in the State under the act 
is 1 ,280, or two sections, and the maximum is the largest tract which may be reclaimed 
under any feasible proposed irrigation system. 

Outline of the Care^ Act. 

The Carey Act in its essence is intended to provide a means whereby private 
capital may profitably undertake enterprises for the reclamation of the arable lands of 
the public domain, of a lesser magnitude than the great undertakings of the Government. 
Under the Desert Land and the Enlarged Homestead acts, the settler can enter upon 
and reclaim from 1 60 to 320 acres and acquire patent. The Carey Act fills the gap 
between what the individual settler is able to do by his own efforts in reclaiming a single 
homestead or desert-land entry on the one hand, and the great undertakings of the 
Government on the other. What is beyond the ability and means of the settler to do 
for himself, and yet is too small for the Government to undertake under the Carey Act 
is left as a field of opportunity for private enterprise. The reclamation company does 
not acquire title to the land, but derives its profits from the sale of water rights to 
entrymen, quite similarly to the method adopted by the Government in its reclamation 
enterprises. 

How the Carey Act Applies. 

Owing to the general misinformation about the Carey Act, in order to explain Its 
practical workings we will carry its operations through an hypothetical case.'' 

The applicant knows of a tract of arable public land which, in his opinion, may be 
reclaimed by impounding and diverting the flood waters of a certain stream. He ascer- 
tains that such flood waters are unappropriated and makes application therefor in the 
office of the State Engineer. At any subsequent time he may apply to the State Com- 
mission of Industry, Agriculture and Irrigation, which is charged with the administration 
of the Carey Act in Nevada, for the temporary withdrawal of the lands proposed to be 
reclaimed. He pays a fee of one cent per acre to the State and deposits a sum suf- 
ficient to defray the actual expenses of the State Engineer in making a preliminary 
examination of the proposed tract to determine, roughly, its feasibility. If the State Engi- 
neer reports favorably, the Commission will at once make application in the United States 
Land Office for the temporary withdrawal of the lands from entry and sale under any 
of the public land laws. The applicant has now one year to make all necessary surveys 
and determinations, and for the preparation of all the engineering data covering the 
proposed project. If after such is completed he is satisfied to proceed with the undertaking, 
within the year must file with the State Commission triplicate copies thereof and, on 
approval, two copies will be filed with the United States Land Office, accompanied with 
an application on the part of the State for the complete segregation of the land to Nevada 
as a part of the two-million-acre grant. The filing fee in the United States Land Office, 
$2 for each quarter-section, must be paid by the applicant. If the Secretary of the 
Interior approves the application, the segregation is made. 

Within three months from the date of such approval the applicant or his assigns 
must enter into a contract with the State for the construction of the reclamation works, and 
also file a bond in a sum equal to five per cent, of the estimated cost thereof, conditioned 
on the carrying out in good faith of the terms of the contract. The contract will state 
the price at which the contractor agrees to sell water rights to entrymen upon the lands; 
the terms and conditions of payment therefor by the settler (usually in ten equal annual 

*Part of the 18.000.000 acres of arable lands in the State hitherto mentioned. „. .^ . 

tBulletin No. 2, Nevada Bureau of Industry. Agriculture and Irrigation. Carson City. Nev.. gives a 
complete analysis of the Carey Act. Sent free on receipt of four cents postage. 

23 



M 



I 

1 
I 

I 

§ 

if 





'vV% 






payments, with interest on the deferred instalments at six per cent, per annum) ; the price 
at which the State agrees to sell the land to the entrymen (usually $1 per acre, payable 
in four annual instalments without interest) ; the quantity of water per acre required for 
delivery during the irrigation season to constitute a water right, and all other details with 
respect to the conduct and carrying out of the undertaking. Within three months from 
the date of the execution of the contract, construction work must be commenced, and 
prosecuted with reasonable diligence thereafter. One-tenth of the total construction work 
must be completed the first year and the whole project completed within three years, 
unless an extension of time is granted for reasonable cause. 

When the work has so far progressed that the contractor is able to deliver water 
upon a part of the project, it may be thrown open for sale to entrymen in units. When 
the project is completed, any lands within the segregation which are found not economi- 
cally feasible to reclaim may be relinquished. Each water right is a definite interest in 
the irrigation system, and when all the lands are sold and the settlers have completed 
their final instalments, they own not only the land but the entire irrigation system as well, 
and the contractor is eliminated. 

Large Profits in Carejj Act Enterprises. 

Carey Act projects, properly conducted, are very profitable, and where the engineer- 
ing work is competent, there is no reason why they should not possess the maximum 
certainty of success. The water-supply is subject to accurate measurement beforehand. 
The cost of the impounding dams, reservoirs, canals, ditches and laterals can be likewise 
estimated with substantial certainty. And, lastly, the value of the lands when reclaimed 
can be determined by soil analysis, in conjunction with the climatic conditions. The 
States charges but $1 per acre for the land and allows the contractor to charge as much 
for the water right as the soil's fruitfulness when reclaimed will justify, and yet leave 
the settler "abundantly satisfied with his acquirement of the land and water right." The 
price for the water right will range from $25 to $75 per acre in northern Nevada, and 
to $ 1 00 per acre in southern Nevada, Such price is gauged almost entirely by the land 
values, irrespective of the cost of the reclamation works per acre; and the project is not 
"feasible" if the margin of profit to the contractor between cost and selling price of the 
water right is not sufficiently large. As a general rule, the difference between the esti- 
mated cost of the water right and the authorized selling price to entrymen is not less than 
100 per cent, and frequently very much larger. While the contractor never owns any 
of the land which the irrigation system reclaims, he is protected as thoroughly as though 
he did. For from the date of the execution of the contract with the State, a statutory 
lien attaches against the land for the selling price of the water right, and this Hen is 
superior to any mortgage or other obligation which the entryman can put upon it, and is 
only lifted on the final payment for the water right. 

Only within the past two years has Nevada given any attention to the Carey Act. 
The Legislature of 1911 passed a comprehensive measure covering the administration of 
Carey Act lands, generally considered now to be the model law of the kind among the 
arid land states. Its tendency is to eliminate fraud by close State supervision, and to 
be of practical aid to legitimate enterprise devoted to the reclamation of the State's arid 
wastes. 

Artesian Care^ Act Projects. 

The discovery of artesian water in many of the valleys has led to a number of 
applications for Carey Act lands where the proposed system of reclamatioii is by ineans 
of artesian wells and pumping plants. In order to meet the situation, which is without 
precedent elsewhere, the State Commission devised and adopted a procedure which 
enables the contractor to undertake the sinking of artesian wells on a segregation without 
being compelled, under his bond, to carry out the enterprise beyond the limits of "economic 

27 



feasibility." In other words, the State recognizes the inherent uncertainties of the under- 
taking and will not compel the fulfilment of a proposed project beyond what is reasonable 
and just, but permits the contractor to relinquish all lands which he originally undertook 
to reclaim, on proper showing that the progress of the undertaking has demonstrated that 
such lands cannot be reclaimed except at greater expense than the profits of the under- 
taking warrant. The field of opportunity for artesian Carey Act projects in Nevada is 
very extensive and yet is only in small part covered. 

SUBDIVIDING THE GREAT RANCHES 

As previously stated, the second Industry in importance in the State, after mining, 
is stock-raising. Nearly all the early farmers, as distinguished from the stockmen, had 
each a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep. The State land grants until they were 
exhausted enabled land to be acquired at a low price and in large tracts. The result 
was that big ranches became the rule, and tracts of thousands of acres passed into single 
ownerships. The agriculturist was thus deprived of many opportunities for securing 
arable lands which he would have been glad to have entered upon and reclaimed. 

Each succeeding year, now, more and more of the arable lands of these great ranches 
is becoming too valuable for mere grazing purposes. In some instances there are vested 
water rights sufficient to reclaim extensive areas, and in other cases the land is so situated 
with reference to natural streams as to be entirely feasible of reclamation. In former 
years the stockmen viewed with little favor the advent of the small farmer. That day is 
past; more particularly since the Government adopted the policy of leasing and exercising 
federal supervision over the public range lands. The stockman is thus protected from 
trespass in what he leases, and the fear that the new settler may encroach upon his range, 
after once getting a foothold as a farmer, is removed. 

A number of owners of arable tracts capable of reclamation and subdivision into 
small farms, within the past year have signified willingness to put them on the market. 
The ranch owner, as a rule, is not disposed to attempt the colonization of the tract him- 
self, but prefers to sell outright for a lump sum, usually part cash and the balance in 
annual payments with interest. The prices asked, as a rule, are reaonable, and afford 
opportunity for the purchaser to make a very substantial profit by subdividing the tract 
and reselling it in small holdings. 

These great ranches also offer special inducements for community colonization; that 
is to say, where a number of homeseekers and their families desire to immigrate in a body 
in order to settle in a new country with their kinspeople and neighbors. There are 
instances where ranches of from ten to fifty thousand acres can be acquired, part arable 
lands and part range lands, capable of a combination of both farming and stock-raising, 
and which offer special opportunities for whole communities to settle upon and develop 
into prosperous little commonwealths. 

Drainage of Swamps and Loivlands. 

There are several instances in the State of extensive areas of swamp-lands along the 
course of the various rivers which could be drained at reasonable expense, and thus 
reclaim in each case several thousand acres of rich silt bottom-lands. This land is now 
covered with tules and natural grass and is used for pasture and the growing of wild 
hay. The soil is likely to contain some alkali, but which may be readily leached out 
when the land is drained. The high subsurface water-table causes the alkali to rise and 
in many cases about all there is of it is immediately visible on the surface. The con- 
struction of drainage ditches followed by the "washing" of the land — flowing fresh 
water over it for a few weeks during the fall or spring — in the majority of instances will 
remove the salts. The silt is frequently from ten to fifty feet deep, black from the humus 
of decomposed vegetable material. Its fertility when drained is prodigious. Crops of 
from fifty to seventy-five bushels of wheat, ten to fifteen tons of potatoes and from twenty 

29 



to thirty tons of onions per acre are not unusual on these drained bottoms. Such land, aftel 
drainage and with a sufficient water right, is worth easily from $150 to $250 per acre. 
The drainage problem does not involve tiling, but deep ditching transverse with the land's 
gradient, and these laterals leading into the main drainage ditch or channel deepened 
to permit the water-table of the tract to be lowered from three to six feet. 

INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITIES 

Local capital and enterprise have largely kept pace with the industrial requirements 
of the State. While in some isolated instances there may be profitable openings, it may 
be stated, as a general rule, that Nevada is well supplied with mercantile establishments 
of all kinds, foundries, machine shops, flour mills, and the lesser local industrial shops and 
manufactories. The State is growing rapidly, however, and there is always an opening 
for a live man with capital in any community, and especially in this virgin commonwealth. 

We can mention, nevertheless, a few special opportunities for financial enterprise 
which, at the present time, are entirely open, as follows: 

Woolen Mills: Since Nevada clips annually about 6,600,000 pounds of wool, 
has abundant cheap electric power and an invigorating climate for workmen, it would 
seem that where the raw material is produced in such quantity there should be an opening 
for a profitable woolen mill. At the present time the Nevada clip is shipped to Boston 
or Philadelphia for manufacturing into goods which are shipped back again to the 
Coast. 

Beet-sugar Factories: The first beet-sugar factory in the State will be completed 
and in operation at Fallon by the time this booklet reaches the public. It will have a 
daily capacity of 650 tons, and was erected at a cost of about $600,000. This season's 
operations will hardly be an indication of its success or failure, since the beet acreage 
planted is inadequate, and the farmers are not as yet familiar with beet culture. The 
operating company has had wide experience in manufacturing beet-sugar, however, and 
in carrying through to success the educational propaganda required to teach the farmer 
the art of growing beets. Their practical enthusiasm over the outlook is extremely 
reassuring. Beets grow prolifically in the State and are found to contain an extraordi- 
narly high per cent, of saccharine. The ultimate success of this initial factory from which 
so much is hoped will supply the Incentive for the erection of others, by reason of the 
fact that many other great tracts of land in different portions of the State are equally 
adaptable to beet culture. 

Lignite BriquettING Plant: Coal retails in Nevada from nine dollars to 
seventeen dollars per ton, and is shipped in from Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. The 
larger part of the fuel used for domestic purposes is wood. At several points in the 
State are extensive veins of sub-bituminous coal and lignite, conveniently located to rail- 
road transportation, and of a tested quality that would make excellent briquettes. The 
local demand for such fuel would alone make a brlquettlng plant on any of these veins 
a highly profitable enterprise. 

Alfalfa Meal Mills: While Nevada is pre-eminently an alfalfa-growing state, 
the first alfalfa meal mill has yet to be erected. There are several localities where such 
a mill would prove profitable. It is to be remembered that the supplies for all the 
mining camps off the railroad have to be transported by teams. Owing to its convenience 
in handling, alfalfa meal would have a ready sale to teamsters in preference to baled 
hay. The demand from this special source alone would be extensive. 

Creameries: There are a number of profitable creameries in the State. But there 
are opportunities for many more. The climate and great extent of grazing and forage 
lands should put Nevada naturally in the first rank as a dairying state. This is one 
of its greatest lines for development and as yet, we might say, the industry is but fairly 
started. The conditions in Nevada — high altitude, pure water, abundant nutritious 
grazing and forage crops, and a specially healthful climate for stock — are ideal for 
dairying. The butter and cheese produced by the present creameries are unsurpassed. 

30 



CHAPTER IV 

Opportunities foi* the Homeseeker of Limited Capital but Rich in Courage and Enterprise — He Must 

Come Prepared to Accept the Conditions of a New and Unusual Environment — -To Succeed He 

Must Be One to Enter into the Spirit Which Actuated the Men and Women of 

the New West — The Spirit Which Delights in the Conquest of Adverse 

Nature in Order to See the Wastes Spring Forth with Abundance 

It was a government reclamation engineer* who said : 

"The call of the West comes to us to-day insistent and inviting. The desert — • 
mysterious, silent, expectant, quivering under cloudless skies — holds a promise of freedom 
and independence to the careworn and to the discouraged. It offers the uplift of 
unmeasured distances and the individual home with that broader freedom of action which 
comes with life in the open. Irrigation canals long enough to girdle the globe with triple 
bands have spread wide oases of green in the arid places. Cheerful and prosperous 
communities dot a landscape once vacant and voiceless." 

Versatility of the West. 

Not every homeseeker will be satisfied with conditions in the arid West. Not every 
homeseeker can cope with conditions in Nevada. America is so large and the West so 
wonderful in its versatility that there are places and opportunities suitable to everyone who 
will but seek and find. This State holds opportunities for men and women of a special 
type. Those who have in their blood something of the venturesome pioneering spirit, 
who can cheerfully and courageously cope with some adversity, and, if necessary, with 
hardships, who are energetic and resourceful, and to whom a few years of struggle is as 
nothing if the goal of a thrifty competence is assured. 

There are many thousands of such men and women in America, who, if they but 
knew of the opportunities here, would give this State first choice, and who would find 
nothing but hope and happiness in the conquering of success. On the other hand there 
are multitudes for whom it would be a mistake to come here. For them there are other 
sections of the country infinitely better suited. But for the homeseeker, adapted to meet 
the conditions here, there is no other land which holds for him such promise. 

Qualifications Required of the Settler. 

Let us digress briefly to discuss the qualifications which a homeseeker should possess 
who expects to acquire unimproved land in Nevada and through his own labor and 
resources bring it under cultivation. This is the pioneer settler. We are not here referring 
to the homeseeker who is able to buy improved property, but to the one who must start on 
the virgin desert, clear the sagebrush, till and plant the land, and where was waste when 
he began will, in time and through his labor, experience and effort, transform it into a 
homestead of trees, garden, orchard and field. 

It is quite evident that he and his family should be of strong fiber and have that 
in their characters which takes joy in the wide freedom of the desert; who have a natural 
love for mountains and far-stretches of gray landscape; and who will not repine from 
loneliness and longing for scenes left behind, but can from the day of their coming call 
the wastes "home." 

And the homeseeker will have to possess some little capital, proportional to how 
many are dependent upon him. It is not easy to fix any minimum. Much will depend 
on his ability and resourcefulness. If we say $2,500, some would succeed with less 
and others need twice and three times that. Perhaps we can give a clearer idea by 
assuming a hypothetical case. 

The Hvpothetical Settler. 

Let us assume that the settler has a wife and possibly children, none of the latter 
old enough to be of material assistance. He writes to the State Commission issuing 
this booklet, stating all the pertinent facts about himself; what experience he has had 
in farming and if any in irrigation; what farming implements he has; whether any work- 

• C. J. Blanchard. 31 




AN EVIDENCE OF THE FER1 

horses, wagons, mowing machines, etc., and the extent of his cash capital. Also what 
crops he has been accustomed to raise and the kind of farming he prefers. The Com- 
mission will advise him to the best of its ability as to the locality or localities in the State 
he had best visit and will put him in touch with those from whom he can secure land, 
the price of the land, the terms of payment, and the character of the soil. 

If he writes asking if he may not take up land in the State under the Homestead or 
Desert Land acts, he will be told that if he has not previously exercised such right he 
can do so in Nevada, since the unappropriated public domain covers millions of acres. 
But that he can do nothing with any land he can homestead or acquire under the Desert 
Land Act, however naturally arable, without there is water obtainable for its irrigation. 
That while dry-farming may succeed in certain places in the State, the successes so far 
have been usually where there is a natural subsurface water-table close enough to supply 




32 



CUTTING ALFALFA ON THE WIDE 






-ss. 




THE NEVADA SOIL 



a substantial part of the moisture required for the crop. That he might, if he prefers 
to undertake the search, in time find a quarter-section on which he could file that is 
susceptible of reclamation from some unappropriated natural stream, but he must bear 
in mind that there are not many streams in the State whose natural flow during the 
irrigation season is not already appropriated. On the other hand, that the conservation 
of the flood waters of any stream by the construction of a private storage system is likely 
to be beyond his individual resources. Lasdy, that if his resources permit, he might find 
a quarter-section favorably situated for the development of artesian water and employ a 
custom drilling outfit to put down a well. If he encounter a flow sufficient to reclaim 
twenty acres or more to begin with, he is independent and on the highway to success.* 

* The State Commission is iireparing a bulletin on artesian reclamation in Nevada, and special atten- 
tion will be given to the subject from the standpoint of the indivitlual entryman on the public domain. 




./T,' 




OF THE RECLAIMED DESERT 



33 



He will be told that unimproved land, with a water right sufficient for its irrigation, 
can be purchased on the instalment plan for from $30 to $75 per acre, depending on 
the location and the value of the land when reclaimed. For $50 per acre to the higher 
price he should get level sagebrush land within close proximity to a railroad and to some 
settled community. Eighty acres of such land, under ordinary cultivation, and forty acres 
under the best farming methods, will support a family. 

Possibililies of a Sixt\)-acre Tract. 

Let us assume that the hypothetical settler possesses $2,500 cash capital; has some 
farming experience but none m irrigation ; has disposed of all his horses, wagons and 
farming implements and has retained only his domestic and household effects. That 
he exercises good judgment in selecting a sixty-acre tract of level sagebrush land with a 
good water right, for which he contracts to pay $65 per acre, one-tenth in cash and 
the balance in nine equal annual instalments, with interest at six per cent. That he brings 
his family and household effects with him and takes possession of the tract in the early 
fall. He will need a house to live in and this will have to be primitive. If he is at 
all skilful he can build it himself. A three-room house, 1 4x35 feet ground plan, 
with tongue and groove floor, rough board walls, lined on the outside with building or 
roofing paper and battened, with windows, doors, etc., will cost for the materials about 
$300. Such a house cloth and papered on the inside will be reasonably comfortable 
and inviting. He will need to buy a wagon, a span of good work-horses, harnesses and 
a cow. These three items will cost him about $500. A shed, stable and corral will 
cost him for the materials about $75 more. He will need about eight months' supply 
of hay to feed his stock, unless there is a convenient pasture near which he can rent. This 
will require about ten tons which, hauling it himself, will cost him about $75. He must 
purchase groceries and supplies for himself and family during the ensuing twelve months, 
which at $30 per month will cost $360. Allowing $50 more for clothing and incidentals, 
these several items foot up to $1,750. He will need to buy a plow, mowing machine, 
rake, and various farming implements before he can harvest his crop, costing altogether 
about $1 75. And he will need to buy seed. 

During the fall, winter and early spring he will be able to clear his land and do 
what leveling is necessary. The sagebrush stumps he can use for domestic fuel. He 
will have to dig his service ditch from the source of water-supply, possibly half a mile in 
length. He had best employ a surveyor for a day, costing $ 1 0, to give his grade 
lines and those of the principal diverting ditches on his tract. He will plow his ditches 
and afterwards shovel them out. He will require a few dollars' worth of lumber to make 
his distributing boxes. 

By planting-time he will have decided as to the best crops to put in. During the fall 
and winter he has gathered all the information possible from local farmers, corresponded 
with the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station at Reno, and supplied himself with 
government and experiment station bulletins regarding irrigation methods and the 
culture of the crops he has selected. He has finally decided, let us say, to grow twenty 
acres of alfalfa, five acres of potatoes, and put the balance of his ground in wheat. 
Reserving one acre for house yard and corrals, this leaves him thirty-four acres for grain. 
His soil being the ordinary gravel loam which underlies the black sagebrush will not 
require plowing before seeding for either alfalfa or wheat.* He will follow competent 
advice as to the time of planting, as also the furrowing of the land for irrigation. The 
spring moisture in the soil will start the crop. The alfalfa this first year will have to be 
watched with the greatest care, not to give it too much water or too little. From the 
middle of April until his crops are harvested he will employ an experienced irrigator 
whom he will pay about $40 per month and found for four months and a half, at 
a total expense for labor and keep of about $200. His alfalfa, wheat, and potato seed 
will cost him another $200. He will have to hire a custom reaper or header to cut 
his grain and a machine to thresh it. All the other work will be done by himself and 

* Not every soil can be planted in alfalfa or grain without plowing, but it has been found satisfactory 
on much of the black sagebrush land where the surface is even, and resulted in excellent stands. 

34 



h.s hired man. After paying for all, his original cash will be exhausted, but he will 
have his crops harvested. If he has employed a competent irrigator, they should be 
reasonably good. 

The first year from his twenty acres of alfalfa he should get one crop of from 
thirty to thirty-five tons. Reserving what he will require for stock feed, he will have 
possibly twenty tons to sell which at $7 per ton will bring him in $140. His wheat, 
on new soil, should yield ordinarily thirty-five bushels to the acre and at $1 
per bushel bring him in about $850 net, after sacking and transportation charges. 
From his five acres of potatoes, assuming a fair normal yield, he would harvest about 
thirty tons, which should bring him in about $500 after reserving seed for the following 
year. The total value of his marketable crop, therefore, would be close to $1 ,500. After 
paying his second instalment, amounting to $590.60, principal and interest, he will have 
about $900 left, also all his grain and potato seed, and a considerable part of his farm- 
grown food supplies to carry him over until next harvest. He has learned much of the 
art of irrigation and, with the experience gained, the following year should largely 
increase the value of his crops. His twenty acres of alfalfa, for example, the second 
year and thereafter should produce five tons to the acre. 

The foregoing, while it expresses conditions and results more or less ideal, is 
based on the substantial assumption that the settler had selected a tract of good 
land requiring little or no leveling; that he had taken possession of it the fall before, 
thus giving him time to clear it, construct his ditches and establish his home before 
planting-time ; that he had purchased the best of seed, sown it at the proper time and that 
instead of attempting to irrigate the tract himself, had the wisdom to employ an 
experienced irrigator who prevented him from ruining any crop by the blunders his 
inexperience would naturally make, and that his water-supply had been adequate. The 
price of $65 per acre for the uncleared land and water right is reasonably ample to 
get land and a water right of the character described. And in addition it will be 
noted that the conditions of level land and the crops chosen are such as to permit the 
seeding of most of the total acreage without plowing. 

Even in this instance, it is evident that the settler could not well have succeeded with 
less than $2,500 capital. Yet we know of settlers who have been successful with as 
low as $1,000 capital, and some who have not succeeded with $5,000 capital. The 
largest factor in the equation is the settler himself. Good judgment in selecting his land 
and water right, in conducting the business of clearing and seeding his farm, and then, 
if he knows nothing of irrigation, in employing the most skilful man who does. Where 
crops are grown by irrigation, the man with the irrigating shovel holds the key to the 
situation. By giving a crop too much or too little water, or at the wrong time, he can 
cause the loss in a day of more than his wages for a year. But under his skill the kiss 
of the water to the thirsty soil causes the desert to smile with verdure and bloom, and 
arid Nature to grow pregnant with harvest. 

The Homeseekef mth Capital. 

The homeseeker with more capital may exercise his choice between a larger acreage 
of unimproved land, or to purchase outright improved land. Improved farms of from 
eighty acres to several hundred acres, depending on location and fruitfulness, will cost 
all the way from $50 to $250 per acre. Many of such farms are in the hands of owners 
who are far from being up-to-date agriculturists, and can be made to produce four and 
five-fold greater harvests than at present. The homeseeker with from $8,000 to $25,000 
capital will do well to visit the agricultural districts of the State with a view to acquiring 
improved farm property. The opening in Nevada to secure farm lands which can be 
made highly profitable is unsurpassed, and is due largely to the fact that only in a 
degree has the farming industry in the State as yet made any transition from the old-style 

farming following the lines of least resistance — to the new, where the soil is made to 

give forth its greatest possible abundance. 

35 




.i^^:;vv.*}^-:i.'»C{v>;:^V{v^:^^ 



CHAPTER V 

Agricultural and Horticultural Crops, Plants, Fruits and Trees Which Thrive Generally or in Special 

Localities in the State 

Unless along the banks of some river or stream where cottonwoods grow, the valleys 
of Nevada in their natural state were destitute of trees, if we except the Yucca or 
joshua-tree which can be found standing in uncouth shapes on the southern deserts. In 
the high mountains are indigenous pines and piiion, fir, juniper and cedar, and along the 
mountain streams grew the quaking-aspen, elder, choke cherry, and a considerable variety 
of bushes and shrubs. 

Ornamental and Shade Trees. 

Wherever civilization has established itself in the valleys, ornamental, shade and 
fruit trees have been planted and many varieties grow with extreme thriftiness. Perhaps 
the quickest growing of these trees for general purposes is the Carolina poplar, and one 
of the most valuable for shade and ornamental purposes. In five years it attains 
large proportions, lives to a considerable age, and is profitable to grow as a fuel. The 
cork-bark and English elm, black walnut, locust, maple, hawthorne, box elder, mulberry, 
and many other varieties of northern trees do well in all parts of the State, including most 
of the ornamental evergreens. In southern Nevada may be added the catalpa, palm, 
olive, and possibly in places certain varieties of the eucalyptus. Some of the glorious 
trees of from ten to forty years old In the towns and early farming settlements testify to 
the possibilities of ornamental shade trees in this State. 

FRUIT-GROWING 

Very little attention has as yet been given to fruit culture, save in a few instances. 
While most of the farmers have an acre or two of orchard, as a rule the trees are not 
cultivated, alfalfa or other grass grows at will between the trees and little care is given 
to intelligent pruning. Only in rare instances are any preventive measures taken against 
frosts, with the result that the crop is uncertain and during the bearing years the trees 
are too heavily loaded. There are, however, a few well-kept orchards, well located 
along the hill slopes to escape the frosts, and which bear prolifically. Apples, pears, 
peaches, plums, prunes, apricots, cherries, quinces, pomegranates, nectarines are grown, 
and it has ceased to be a question as to whether or not certain favorable sections of the 
State will not eventually develop into important fruit-growing districts. The frost-pro- 
tected hill slopes are to be chosen, and the homeseeker looking for an orchard site will 
find what he is seeking in a number of places and be able to secure the land at low cost. 
The fruit crop, while limited as yet, is unexcelled both in flavor and in keeping qualities. 
It is possible that in some portions of Pahrump Valley and on the Virgin River, in 
extreme southern Nevada, oranges, lemons, and grapefruit may be grown. The danger 
being from winter-killing is due to the fact that throughout southern Nevada there is apt 
to be each winter a few nights when the temperature will fall below the frost point and 
once in several years as low as fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. The improvement in orchard 
heating in recent years and the rareness of frosts and extreme cold in southern Nevada 
give promise that such citrus fruits may yet be successfully grown. 

Berries and Small Fruits. 

Blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, loganberries, gooseberries, currants, strawberries 
and the like grow thriftily in almost every section of the Stale. 

Cantaloupes and Watermelons. 

Southern Nevada, like Imperial Valley, is a natural home for the cantaloup, casaba, 
and watermelon, which are grown and shipped by the carloads East from Moapa and 
Las Vegas. The cantaloupes grown on the Muddy River bottoms and at several other 

37 



I 



I 

\'V-'' 




points south will rival those produced anywhere else in the country. The crop is very 
profitable, bringing in a gross income of from $100 to $350 per acre. While cantaloupes 
and watermelons are raised generally throughout the other agricultural sections, it is more 
for household and local consumption. 

Market Cardening Crops. 

Potatoes: This Is the principal export crop of the State. Not every section of 
America is adapted to growing this great staple. The Nevada potato has taken the 
first award at several fairs, international expositions and produce shows, and if equaled in 
pomts of good qualities by those grown in any other favored sections of the country for 
the tuber, it is unsurpassed, to say the least. It grows evenly, when properly cultivated, 
of uniform size, clear and healthy skin, firm texture, free from disease, is not watery and 
when cooked is dry, mealy and white as a snowdrift. In every market where the Nevada 
potato is known it commands a premium. It is no mean agricultural art to get the 
best results in potato-growing. It requires experience and intelligence to know when 
and how to plant the crop, how deep the irrigation furrows should be and the precise 
quantity of water required. But where the art is mastered the profits from potato- 
growing one year with another are very great. The average yield is about six tons to the 
acre, or 200 bushels, under any reasonably skilful handling, but the leading potato 
growers of the State grow from eight to fifteen tons per acre. The average selling price 
is about twenty dollars per ton or sixty cents per bushel. A net profit of $200 per 
acre on the crop is not unusual in seasons of good prices. 

Onions: This is likewise a very profitable crop, but for the best results requires a 
black silt soil, usually found only along the river-bottoms. From fifteen to thirty tons 
per acre are harvested from such lands. The market varies between wide extremes, some 
years hardly paying the cost of the crop and another year giving an enormous profit. 
This is an important export crop. 

Sugar-beets: To supply the new sugar-beet factory at Fallon with 65,000 tons 
of sugar-beets per annum, a large opening is created for the growing of sugar-beets 
throughout the tributary territory. As stated in a previous chapter, the local farmers are 
as yet unfamiliar with beet culture. For the homeseeker who is, there is a great opening 
to lease land of the farmers on shares, to acquire lands by purchase or to homestead on 
the Truckee-Carson Reclamation Project. Tests of beets grown in the vicinity for a 
number of years gave a general average of seventeen per cent, sugar; purity 89.95. The 
price paid for the beets is based on sugar content: five dollars per ton on a base rate of 
fifteen per cent, sugar, and thirty cents per ton for each per cent, above. In addition there 
is a compensating additional allowance for varying distances of transportation from the 
field to the factory. 

Celery: This is a crop which seems to be particularly adapted to the soil and 
climatic conditions in the State. There is a strong demand both from local sources and 
for export. Nevada celery is tender, brittle, grows thriftily and is free from rust and 
disease. It requires a sandy loam or silt soil, and its growth is extremely profitable. 

Asparagus: Like celery, asparagus is a crop now attracting attention in many 
places where tests have proved it to be specially adapted. About 200 acres are grown 
in the Muddy Valley, maturing in March, and commands a high price in the Chicago 
and New York markets. Profits as high as $400 per acre have been made. 

Other Vegetable Crops: All ordinary garden vegetables, such as corn, tomatoes, 
lettuce, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, egg-plants, turnips, carrots, etc., may be grown 
generally throughout the State. 

FORAGE CROPS. 

Alfalfa: This is the State's most important agricultural crop. All soils, excepting 
those containing an excess of alkali or having a water-table nearer than six feet below 
the surface, are adapted to its growth. The yield will vary from two tons per acre on 

39 



inferior soils in northern and central Nevada to seven and eight tons on better soils and 
as high as twelve tons in southern Nevada. In the higher altitudes, 4,000 feet and over, 
two crops are grown, with the third crop left for fall pasturing; at lower altitudes, approxi- 
mately 3,800 feet elevation, three full crops are harvested ; while five and six crops 
mature in southern Nevada. For stock feeding, the hay is fed on the ranch and sells 
uniformly at about $7 per ton. The finer grade, mixed with timothy and bluegrass, is 
hauled or shipped to the towns and mining camps where it brings from $1 2 to $20 per ton. 
Sorghum : The recent introduction of several varieties of the sorghums in a few sec- 
tions of Nevada, including broom corn, sweet sorghum, Kaffir corn, and milo, with the most 
satisfactory results, indicates that the soil and climate are all that could be desired for 
the growth of these valuable staples. Milo, especially, is a drought resisting crop and 
may yet be successfully cultivated here by dry-farming methods in certain localities. 
Under irrigation, however, the sorghums do extremely well and seem to grow as thriftily 
as anywhere in the Middle West. 



CHAPTER VI 

Conditions in Nevada Exceptional for Raising Hogs for Export and to Supply the Local Markets — Most 

of the Pork, Bacon and Ham Consumed Is Imported from the Middle 

West — Poultry Busmess — Apiaries 

The hog, for no reason other than the farmer has slept on a money-making oppor- 
tunity, has been grossly neglected in Nevada. Recently, however, there has been some- 
what of an awakening. A number of farmers in different sections of the State have 
discovered that the humble porker is full of money-making possibilities, and have turned 
their attention to swine-raising. They have discovered that there is large and certain 
profit in the enterprise and with no danger that the market will be affected by any excess 
supply. Moreover it is found that one acre of alfalfa will support and fatten from 
eight to twenty hogs. 

PROFIT IN THE HOG 

The best practice is to have the alfalfa acreage divided into fenced lots, permitting 
the hogs to forage on one lot at a time so that the land may be irrigated and have a 
chance to partially dry out before the pasture rotation brings the hogs again on the 
field. Where the hog has plenty of room, his inclination to root is very much abated. 
Moreover his general healthfulness and freedom from contagious disease such as hog cholera 
is materially improved. At the Nevada Experimental Station, at Reno, hog 
cholera serum is prepared, and the Nevada farmer, discovering a case of supposed 
cholera in his drove, can isolate the suspect, innoculate him with the serum and the 
whole drove if necessary. The day is past when the hog grower, if he is informed, need 
fear any considerable loss from this formerly disastrous contagion. Alfalfa hay as a 
winter ration is almost as satisfactory as when grazed in the field. The farmer, however, 
to get the best results should grow wheat, oats, barley, corn, cow peas, sugar-beets, 
pumpkins, potatoes or pie melons, depending on the climatic conditions and character of 
his soil, as a side crop, to be fed with the alfalfa for a month or two at fattening time. 
Every crop best suited to producing pork seems to be specially adapted to growth in 
this State, added to which as an advantage is the moderate winter climate. Under 
good handling, alfalfa, turned on the farm into pork, is equivalent to selling the hay 
crop for $25 or more per ton, instead of $7 per ton. A forty-acre Nevada farm, with 
triirty acres \n alfalfa and ten acres in a side crop, will grow everything required to produce 
annually from 50,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds of pork, which at five and one-half 
cents per pound, the minimum price, will bring in an income of from $2,750 to $5,500 
per annum. Thus the farmer on a forty-acre tract, if he is wide-awake, can make more 
money than the back-number farmer on a quarter-section of the same kind of land. 

40 



POULTRY-RAISING 

The poultry business has its technical side, and one person may succeed in it where 
many others will fail. There is much detail about it, some special knowledge required 
of the habits, diseases and characteristics of the domesticated feathered family, and the 
successful are those who make poultry-raising a study and the marketing of the eggs 
and fowls a specialty. From the standpoint of poultry-raising in Nevada, the following 
facts are important: First, that not enough poultry and eggs are produced to begin to 
supply the home consumption; second, that the prices for both are higher than perhaps 
anywhere else in the country; third, that the climatic and other conditions are as good 
here as anywhere else, and lastly, that those who have in recent years gone into the busi- 
ness in the right way appear to be making money. The homeseeker, looking for an 
opportunity to go into poultry-raising will find Nevada as promising a field as any, to 
say the least. 

NEVADA HONEY 

We have claimed hitherto in this booklet that Nevada is a state wonderfully adapted 
to alfalfa; that the Nevada potato, if not the best grown in America, at least has no 
superior, and now we are going to make the same claim for honey. 

Clear, white, translucent, with a flavor of alfalfa bloom and as delicious as fabled 
nectar, if any other section of America produces better honey than this State, in Western 
parlance, it has to go some! Let us investigate the reasons. We will not have to 
prosecute the inquiry far. There are tw^o, namely: The great stretches of alfalfa fields, 
whose purple blossoms distil the sweets, and the cloudless sunshiny days during the 
season when the bee gathers honey. There are no days when the worker has to lay 
off and get a grouch on about the lowering weather. She can be up with the lark 
between the time the first spring blossom comes on the hillside, the white sage appears, 
and the apple trees begin to bloom, until the last belated blossom withers in the fall. 
There is no rain or moisture in the flower to trouble and annoy her in getting at the 
sweets. The busy bee earns her reputation in Nevada not only by the quantity which 
she puts up but by its exquisite quality. 

Apiculture is an important industry in Nevada and is growing rapidly at the present 
time, due to the introduction of Nevada honey in the Eastern markets and the attention 
its fine quality has attracted. At the present time there are about 1 0,000 colonies, and 
from the great extent of the honey flora there is room in the State for at least 1 00,000 



colonies. 



CHAPTER VII 

Valleys, River Systems, Cities, Towns, and Agricultural Communities 

The river systems of the arid region largely determine the geography of the 
agricultural sections. Along the rivers the pioneer farmers first settled and diverted the 
waters for irrigation, following the lines, successively, of least resistance. In time, most 
of the land capable of reclamation by local capital and enterprise was put under cultivation. 
Now has begun the era of Government and Carey Act reclamation projects, the breaking 
up of large ranches into small farms, and the beginning of intensive farming. 

THE HUMBOLDT RIVER SYSTEM 

The Humboldt River from the source of its longest tributary to the sink where its 
waters are lost by evaporation, is nearly 1 ,000 miles in length. Its drainage area covers 
13,800 square miles. About 175,000 acres of land along the river and its tributaries 
are under cultivation. The upper valleys at the source of the river have an elevation 
of approximately 6,000 feet, descending to about 5,000 feet at Elko. 4.500 at Battle 
Mountain, 4,300 at Winnemucca and 4,000 at Lovelock. Some of the richest 
farming districts of Nevada are along this river. Near Wells is the Pacific Reclamation 
Company's Carey Act project which is opening up for settlement a 30,000-acre 
tract of good land suitable for growing alfalfa, grain and general northern farm crops. 

41 



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The town of Metropolis came into existence on this project. The water-supply is 
derived from a storage system of the flood waters of Bishops Creek and its tributaries. 

South of Wells is Clover Valley, not properly a part of the Humboldt River system, 
however, but contiguous to it, about thirty-five miles long and from five to ten miles wide. 
Although the elevation of this valley is 6,000 feet, and the winters are somewhat severe, 
there is a five months' growing season, producing good crops of alfalfa and grain. Some 
splendid apples are grown here, and the valley is worthy of attention from those 
interested in a climate producing an apple of the longest keeping quality. The average 
annual precipitation is fifteen inches. 

About Deeth on the Humboldt, and including Marys River Valley, Star Valley 
and Lamoille Valley, is an extensive agricultural section containing about 30,000 
acres of alfalfa and natural grass lands, and a very much larger acreage which is 
susceptible of reclamation. It is possible that extensive tracts of lowlands in these 
valleys, possessing a high water-table — natural moisture within a short distance below 
the surface — can be made to grow the "dry-farming" varieties of wheat and cereals 
without irrigation. The Fort Halleck Irrigation District recently organized under a 
new state law, is constructing an irrigation system to reclaim about 1 0,000 acres near 
Lamoille Valley, at an outlay of about $225,000. Throughout these valleys are a 
number of very attractive ranches. 

ELKO, the county seat of Elko County, is the center of the greatest cattle and 
sheep ranges of the Stale, and with considerable of a farming section in the immediate 
vicinity. It is a thriving town of about 2,000 population, with the outlook for an 
important future. It lies on both the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific railroads 
and is the business center of a prosperous tributary territory. From Elko north extends 
a great stock-raising, mining and agricultural country, clear to the Idaho line, the 
importance of which from the agricultural standpoint is not yet more than dimly realized. 
Here are the valleys of the Owyhee, Bruneau and Salmon rivers, whose waters 
ultimately reach the Columbia and the Pacific. This is a country, as yet, of vast cattle 
ranges and far from railroad communication. It is well watered and with great 
possibilities for ultimate colonization. 

From Palisade south for fifty miles is a succession of long narrow valleys, through 
which extends the Eureka & Palisade Railway, the latter continuing on to the famous 
old mining camp of Eureka, still on the producing list and once the greatest lead camp 
of the world. Only about 5,000 acres of land are under cultivation on Pine and Hot 
creeks in these valleys. Practically all the farming is a side issue to stock-raising. 

Along the Humboldt, between Palisade and Oreana, a distance of about 1 60 
miles, some 50,000 acres are under cultivation, chiefly in natural grass meadows and 
alfalfa. Much of the soil is river-bottom silt, susceptible of easy drainage in many 
instances, in other cases not requiring any and naturally highly productive. Here, 
again, farming is secondary to stock-raising, with large ranches almost universal. On 
Spring Creek, for example, is a tract of 25,000 acres of level arable sagebrush land, 
only a small part of which is under cultivation but practically all of which is feasible 
of reclamation. This tract is part of a great stock range. In this stretch of country 
along the Humboldt it is safe to say that there is room for 2,000 farm families to 
acquire independence, where today the land is owned by perhaps a hundred. 

South from Beowawe extends Crescent Valley, nearly forty miles in length by ten 
miles in width. In many places there is a high water-table, suggestive of possibilities 
for so-called "dry-farming," where the subsurface moisture supplies most of that 
required for crops. The land is level and arable. The possibilities for artesian water 
in this valley are excellent. 

At Battle Mountain is the confluence of the Reese River with the Humboldt, but only 
in seasons of high water do the streams mingle. It is the Humboldt's longest tributary, 
rises 120 miles south, and flows through a series of narrow fertile valleys, along which 
for the most part is the Nevada Central Railroad, terminating at Austin. About 
15,000 acres are under cultivation throughout the entire river system. Stock-raising 
predominates over farming, although there are a number of highly cultivated farms. 

45 



i 



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AUSTIN, the county seat of Lander County, is the principal town of the Reese 
River Valley. Thirty years ago it was one of Nevada's great mining camps. After a 
long period of quiescence it is entering upon a revival of its former mineral production. 

WINNEMUCCA, the county seat of Humboldt County, like Elko, is the center of a 
great stock-raising, mining and agricultural territory; is on both the Southern Pacific 
and Western Pacific railroads, and is geographically situated to grow. The attractive 
portion of the town is not visible from the railroad. Its population is about 2,000. 
It contains many pleasant residences, good schools, churches, a national bank, business 
houses and a handsome theatre. From Winnemucca is shipped annually about 3,500,000 
pounds of wool and about 1,600 carloads of cattle, sheep and horses. 

Extending north from Winnemucca for fifty miles on the Little Humboldt River 
is Paradise Valley, the upper end of which is an extremely fertile farming country. 
A town of the same name is situated in the center of the cultivated section. It contains 
a flour-mill, stores, hotels, and two churches. About 30,000 acres are under a thrifty 
state of cultivation. The principal crops are alfalfa, wheat, barley, fruit and vegetables. 
Several fine orchards are in the valley and the conditions seem favorable for fruit- 
growing. A more perfect conservation of the water-supply would bring under cultivation 
a much larger area of arable land. 

Northwest from Paradise Valley over a mountain range lies the Quinn River 
Valley and west of this, Kings River Valley. While neither of these two valleys 
belongs to the Humboldt River system, they are contiguous to it and will be mentioned 
here. There are a number of cultivated farms. Stock-raising is the principal industry. 
Here are vast stretches of arable desert land, naturally well watered and capable of 
reclamation to support a considerable farming population. 

The Ellison Ranch Company is completing a Carey Act project to reclaim and open 
for settlement 38,000 acres of rich lands on the Quinn River and its tributaries. 

LOVELOCK, the last town on the Humboldt, is the center of perhaps the richest 
agricultural section in northern Nevada. The soil is the accumulated silt of ages of 
river flow finally deposited in this lower extremity of the great Humboldt Valley. 
Wells sunk fifty feet and over do not pass through the black humus-laden soil. Here 
yields of seven tons to the acre of alfalfa and sixty bushels of wheat excite no comment. 
About 25,000 acres are under a high state of cultivation, the principal crops being 
alfalfa, potatoes, wheat, barley, and oats. Here is located an important flour-mill. 
This valley should make a wonderful spot for the growing of sugar-beets, and undoubtedly 
a considerable acreage will be planted from now on as it is within shipping distance of 
the sugar-beet factory at Fallon. Crops such as celery, asparagus, corn, sorghum, 
tomatoes, etc., grow luxuriantly. Land here, as in many other places, is held in large 
tracts, but already the demand for small acreages of such rich soil is insistent. Its 
colonization with the intensive farmer on twenty and forty-acre tracts is likely in a few 
years to occur. Near here is the Carey Act project of the Lovelock Land and 
Development Company, which is constructing an irrigation system to impound 57,000 
acre feet of the flood waters of the river in a reservoir site near the Humboldt House 
to irrigate certain lands held in private ownership and to reclaim 1 0,000 acres of 
desert land. The latter on the completion of the project will be thrown open to 
entrymen. 

TRUCKEE RIVER SYSTEM 

Lake Tahoe, lying partly in California and partly in Nevada, pronounced by 
tourists as the most beautiful lake in the world, is the source of the Truckee River. 
After flowing about 125 miles, during which it falls 2,442 feet, it empties into Pyramid 
Lake, the latter also a surpassingly beautiful sheet of water, somewhat larger than 
Lake Tahoe. The scenery along the Truckee is superb. The Eastern traveler on the 
Southern Pacific, entering the Truckee Valley, seven miles below Reno, gets his first 
and only view from the car window of what might be called "Agricultural Nevada." 
Even here it is only the natural grass lowlands or "meadows" that are within the range 
of vision. Nevertheless the view of this beautiful valley, walled in by the great Sierras 
on the west, is inspiring. 

47 



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About 45,000 acres are cultivated from the Truckee River, not including the 
lands reclaimed by the Truckee-Carson Reclamation Project lower down. The stream 
is harnessed at a number of places with hydro-electric plants, generating energy to light 
and supply power for domestic, industrial and mining purposes from Reno to as far 
south as Yerington and Wabuska, including Virginia City and the great mines of the 
Comstock Lode. 

Surrounding Reno is a rich agricultural section with medium-sized farms under a 
compartively high state of cultivation. The principal products are alfalfa, potatoes, 
and onions with other more or less diversified crops. 

RENO, the county seat of Washoe County, and the most important city in the State, 
is located on both banks of the Truckee. Its population in 1910 w^as 10,867. Three 
miles distant and connected by electric street-car system is the town of Sparks, population 
2,500. Reno is a live, progressive Western city, and its busy thoroughfares thronged 
with people, with clanging street-cars and innumerable automobiles, give the visitor the 
impression that this is a place of no mean importance, and he is not in error. Its 
location so far as scenic environment is concerned is not surpassed even by Colorado 
Springs. Its position as a business center with railroads radiating north, east, south 
and west gives it an enormous tributary territory. Here are modern business blocks, 
department stores, excellent hotels, fine public buildings, schools, churches, libraries, and 
a modern theatre where the stars of the first magnitude appear, and Schumann-Heink 
and Gadski have sung. It is a city also of beautiful residences, trees and shrubbery, 
asphalt and macadam streets. There are churches of all denominations, and a splendid 
Y. M. C. A. building; also four large banking institutions with combined resources 
aggregating $10,000,000., Here are located the Nevada State University and 
Experiment Station. The University is richly endowed by the state and federal 
governments and by Mrs. John Mackay and Clarence Mackay, of New York, widow 
and son respectively of the late master spirit during the bonanza days of the Comstock 
Lode. There is an able corps of instructors, and 350 students. The Reno Commercial 
Club is an organization of leading business men and citizens, with extensive club head- 
quarters and will reply to inquiries with respect to the city and surrounding country. 

The average annual run-off of the Truckee River is 674,000 acre feet, or sufficient 
water if conserved to irrigate 225,000 acres of land. Immediately north of Reno 
are several arable valleys capable of reclamation from the river, containing 73,000 
acres now in sagebrush. The "meadow" lands on the east side of the Truckee Valley, 
containmg about 5,000 acres, could be drained by deepening the river channel near 
Vista about six feet, thus reclaiming from swamp a body of wonderfully fertile bottom- 
lands. South of the Truckee Valley lies Steamboat Valley, also highly cultivated 
and beyond this is a succession of farm valleys for fifty miles, through which runs the 
Virginia & Truckee Railroad and its Minden branch. 

THE CARSON RIVER SYSTEM 
Like the Truckee, the Carson River rises in the Sierras and flows northeasterly 
about 200 miles, to empty in the Carson Sink. Its estimated annual run-off is 436,000 
acre feet, or sufficient to irrigate if conserved 145,000 acres. Carson Valley, situated 
on the upper Carson, elevation 4,750 feet, is second to no other valley in Nevada in 
soil fertility and grandeur of natural scenery. On its west side the picturesque Sierras 
rise abruptly and afford a mountain perspective over the verdure of the fields and thrifty 
farms to satisfy the most ardent Nature lover. Five to seven tons of alfalfa and forty 
bushels of wheat are ordinary crops. The largest dairy industry in the State centers here, the 
farmers owning the Gardnerville Creamery co-operatively, and they have grown wealthy 
from turning their forage crops into butter and cheese. Here is also a large flour-mill, 
second only to the Riverside flour-mill at Reno in importance. A large land estate in 
this valley is being subdivided into small farms, and many new colonists have in the 
last few years acquired homes. Land so productive is valuable. The settler will get 
exceptional value in fruitful soil, but he must expect to pay anywhere from $150 to 
$300 an acre for improved land. 

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There are four thriving towns in the valley — Minden, Gardnerville, Genoa and 
Sheridan — surrounded by 30,000 acres of land under the highest state of cultivation — with 
an additional 15,000 acres of arable lands at the north end of the valley which are 
rapidly being reclaimed. 

Along the Carson River, between Empire and the Truckee-Carson project at Fallon, 
including the farm acreage about Dayton, about 20,000 acres are under cultivation, 
producing alfalfa and potatoes as the leading crops. 

Immediately north of Carson Valley lies Eagle Valley, containing 12,000 acres of 
arable lands, about a third of which is under cultivation, due to scarcity of water-supply 
but which will in time be remedied by pumping and storage systems. The Carson River 
traverses the lower side of this valley, consequently its waters cannot be utilized. 

CARSON CITY, the capital of the State, is situated in the center of Eagle Valley, 
only fourteen miles from Lake Tahoe. The population is about 2,500. In addition 
to the State buildings located here, there is a fine federal building. The city is charming 
from its picturesque setting and wealth of magnificent trees which line all the streets. 
It is expected that during the coming year several thousand acres of rich silt lands close 
in to Carson City will be opened to colonization. 

TRUCKEE-CARSON RECLAMATION PROJECT 

The first reclamation project undertaken by the Government under the National 
Reclamation Act was begun in 1903 in Nevada and is still in process of construction 
at an ultimate cost of approximately $7,000,000. The first unit of the project was 
completed in 1907-08, consisting of a great canal to divert the waters of the Truckee 
at Derby, twenty miles below Reno, to the vast tract of arable land in the neighborhood 
of Fallon in Churchill County. Work on the second unit of the project was inaugurated 
the present year, 1911, namely, the construction of an impounding dam across the 
Carson River about fifteen miles from Fallon to store the waters of the canal and the 
flood waters of the Carson during the non-irrigation season in a great artificial lake, 
capacity 350,000 acre feet. The dam will be of earth and concrete, 800 feet long, 
1 1 feet high, 400 feet wide at the base and 20 feet wide at the top. It will be 
completed in 1913, and with the existing appropriated water-supply of the river and 
canal system will be the means of reclaiming a total of 200,000 acres of what was 
once known as the "Forty Mile Desert," about 70,000 acres of which are now under 
cultivation. The dam will supply many thousand hydro-electric horsepower as well. 

FALLON, the county seat of Churchill County, is situated at the terminus of a short 
spur of the Southern Pacific beginning at Hazen; population about 1,000, not including 
those on the immediately surrounding farms; elevation, 3,970 feet; maximum temperature 
1 05 degrees, minimum 5 degrees, mean 48 degrees, humidity low. 

The soil about Fallon is of many kinds, as would be expected in a large tract of 
land formed from river and lake deposits, including light drifting sands, loams, clay, 
adobe and black peat soils, all occurring in large quantities and affording an extensive 
variety for choice. A wide range of crops are grown here: alfalfa, wild hay, corn, 
grain, sorghum, potatoes, sugar-beets, celery, asparagus, melons, orchard fruits, berries, etc. 
This country is at its beginning, with an outlook such that ten years from now 
should see its fruition as one of the greatest agricultural sections of the West. Here is 
located a new sugar-beet factory with a capacity of 650 tons per day and which will 
give market for a crop that will net the skilful grower from $50 to $75 per acre. One 
after the other the older farms are being broken up and sold to settlers in smaller tracts. 
Also the vast acreage being reclaimed by the Government is open to hornestead entry 
at a cost of $30 per acre, payable in ten instalments without interest, and sixty cents per 
annum maintenance cost. 

Northwest of Fallon, at Fernley, on the line of the Truckee Canal, a fine tract 
of land is being reclaimed by homesteaders. This is on "thornbrush" land deficient 
in humus and nitrogen but which is artificially supplied, with the result that splendid 
yields of alfalfa in every instance have rewarded the settlers. For information address. 
Project Engineer, U. S. R. S., Fallon, Nev. 

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THE WALKER RIVER SYSTEM 

The Walker River is formed by two branches — East and West forks — which rise 
on the eastern slopes of the Sierras. The latter traverses Antelope and Smith valleys 
and unites with the West Fork in Mason Valley, thence flowing into Walker Lake. 
In Antelope Valley is a natural reservoir site capable of impounding — depending on 
the height of the dam — from 105,000 to 240,000 acre feet of the flood waters of 
the stream. There are also several storage sites on the East Fork. On both rivers 
are a number of power sites. For a reclamation company possessing the necessary 
capital to quiet certain conflicting water rights and put in the storage and canal systems 
requiring about $L000,000, there is no more profitable and feasible undertaking in 
the West than the consummation of what is known as the Antelope Valley Project 
which is still open. The acreage subject to reclamation by this project is estimated 
at 80,000, including lands now in private ownership but with an uncertain water-supply 
due to the variation in the river flow. The annual run-off of the East Fork is 154,000 
acre feet and of the West Fork 222,000 acre feet, a total sufficient to reclaim I 35,000 
acres, aside from the lands which, under the topography of the valleys, are reclaimed 
by seepage, aggregating probably 50,000 acres more. Elevations: Smith Valley, 
4,800 feet; Mason Valley, 4,350 feet. Climate mild. 

The present acreage under cultivation in these two valleys, including East Fork 
Valley which is a continuation of Mason, is about 75,000. In Smith Valley artesian 
water is demonstrated at depths ranging from 100 to 300 feet, with strong flows, and 
there is much activity at present in artesian reclamation. Electric power is available 
for pumping in both valleys, and in many places surface-waters in abundance can be 
obtained under twenty feet pumping lift. The Nevada & California Railway, a 
branch of the Southern Pacific, beginning at Hazen and now being extended to connect 
with Los Angeles, passes through Mason Valley at Wabuska, from which the Nevada 
Copper Belt Railway extends through a portion of Mason Valley and into Smith 
Valley, terminating at Hudson. At Wabuska is located a copper smelter to reduce 
the great bodies of copper ores in the vicinity of Yerington. 

The Carey Act project of the Walker River Power Company proposes to impound 
the flood waters of the East Fork and to carry the stream by a high-line canal to reclaim 
50,000 acres of fine sagebrush lands in Mason Valley, as well to generate ultimately 
about 30,000 hydro-electric horsepower. This project is well under way and will 
probably be largely colonized by Mennonite farmers from Pennsylvania. 

From an agricultural standpoint Smith and Mason valleys are two of the most 
fertile areas in Nevada and capable of supporting a very large farming population. 
About the same variety of farm crops thrive here as at Fallon and in Carson Valley. 
There are splendid local markets. The country is also tributary to the rich mining 
districts of Tonopah, Goldfield, etc. For the intending settler these two valleys offer 
special opportunities at the present time. The principal towns are Mason, Yerington, 
Wabuska, Nordyke, and Wellington. 

SMALL STREAM SYSTEMS: NORTHERN NEVADA 

Aside from the river systems mentioned there are in the State innumerable cultivated 
tracts varying from a quarter-section to several thousand acres reclaimed from the flow 
of springs and mountain creeks. The total irrigated area of this character, owing to 
the immensity of the State, is not likely less than 1 00,000 acres. Wherever there 
is a brook or spring in nearly every case will be found some occupant of the land. 

The White River, so-called in east-central Nevada, length about seventy-five miles, 
flows about 28,000 acre feet of water per annum. It is fed from four great thermal springs 
at Preston and Lund. The White River Valley contains a large acreage of arable 
lands, only about 5,000 of which are cultivated. Owing to the limited water-supply, 
about 9,000 acres would represent the maximum that is feasible of reclamation by 
storage. 

Steptoe Valley, in White Pine County, is about 1 00 miles in length and from 
six to twelve miles in width, elevation 6,000 feet. It is traversed by Duck Creek flowing 

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from the north and Steptoe Creek from the south. Along these creeks are extensive 
tracts of natural meadows. Fruit, alfalfa and grain are profitable crops. Contiguous 
to this valley are the great copper mines at Ely, rivaling those of Butte, Montana, 
as the largest in the world, and which afford market for everything grown. The water- 
supply of both creeks has been purchased by the copper companies, which limits the 
acreage subject to future reclamation. East of Ely is Spring Valley, and about Osceola 
are several great ranches under a high state of cultivation. The annual precipitation 
in this section is about twelve inches. 

In Lincoln County are a series of valleys — Duck Valley, Desert Valley, Pahroc 
Valley, Coal Valley and Pennoyer Valley — which may be said to be on the border line 
between northern and southern Nevada. There are many thousand acres of cultivated 
lands in these valleys in isolated tracts, reclaimed from springs and mountain creeks. In 
Coal Valley a private company has constructed an impounding dam to store the flood 
waters of a number of small streams. The run-off of the creeks would seem to limit 
the area feasible of reclamation by the surface-water supply alone to about 5,000 acres. 

In the northern part of the Meadow Valley Wash, about Caliente and Panaca, 
on the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railway, elevation approximately 4,400 
feet, is an extremely fertile farm country under a high state of cultivation. The 
growing season is about seven months, and extraordinary yields are obtained on the 
irrigated lands. There is room on small tracts in this section for a considerable number 
of farmers. 

About Hawthorne, in the Walker Lake Valley, west-central Nevada, are some 
cultivated lands and with many thousands of acres additional of arable lands which 
will probably ultimately be reclaimed by pumping. In Fish Lake Valley are several 
thousand acres of highly productive cultivated lands. 

Big Smoky Valley, one hundred miles in length by from five to fifteen miles in 
width, with 250,000 acres of arable lands, only about 1,500 acres of which are under 
cultivation from springs and mountain streams, is alluring of possibilities of reclamation 
in part by artesian irrigation. Pumping wells have been encountered at reasonable depths 
at Millers. Electric power for pumping is available, and 115,000 acres of the lands 
are now covered by Carey Act projects proposing to ultilize the subterranean waters. 
Ralston Valley, Hot Creek Valley, Fish Spring Valley, Little Smoky Valley, and 
Paranagat Valley each contains an enormous acreage of arable desert lands, some little 
of which is under cultivation and the remainder awaiting some feasible means of 
reclamation, restricted, however, probably to artesian flows. 

In the neighborhood of these valleys are the great mining districts of Tonopah, 
Goldlield and Manhattan, producing annually approximately $20,000,000 in precious 
metals, affording markets for agricultural crops and, as well, the railroads and electric 
power lines leading to 'hem the means of transportation and power. 

SOUTHERN SUB-TROPICAL NEVADA 

We have now to consider a portion of Nevada lying between the thirty-fifth and 
thirty-seventh parallels, elevation between 1 ,600 and 2,000 feet, with a maximum tem- 
perature of I 1 6 degrees, mean 61.7 degrees, and lowest recorded 10 degrees Fahrenheit, 
where frosts are practically unknown between the first of May and the beginning of 
November, and where the growing season is nine months long. This section includes the 
Muddy River Valley, Las Vegas Valley, Pahrump Valley, Indian Spring Valley, and 
tracts in the Amargosa Desert, all of which are tributary to the San Pedro, Los Angeles 
& Salt Lake Railway, the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railway and a part of the Tonopah & 
Tidewater Railway. 

THE MUDDY RIVER SYSTEM 

The Muddy River rises in certain thermal springs near Arrow Canon, In the 
Arrow Canon Mountains, flows southeasterly, enters the Meadow Valley Wash and 
continues to Saint Thomas, a distance of forty miles, where it empties into the Virgin 
River about twenty-five miles above its confluence with the Colorado. The normal 

57 






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annual flow of the river is about 28,000 acre feet. There are about 1 2.000 acres 
of arable lands along the Muddy, of which about 5,000 are under cultivation. This 
valley is an agricultural pardise in respect to fertility. Six crops of alfalfa are harvested; 
cotton grows luxuriantly ; cantaloupes and watermelons return small fortunes from a few 
acres; it is a natural home for the fig, olive, grape and apricot, and here is grown 
perhaps the finest asparagus raised in America. The State of Nevada maintains an 
experiment station here. Five hundred carloads of melons, lettuce, asparagus and fruit, 
on the completion of the railroad from Moapa to Saint Thomas, it is estimated, will be 
shipped to Eastern markets next season and thereafter. Two crops are ordinarily 
harvested from the same land each year. In this valley are four prosperous towns, 
Moapa, Logan, Overton and Saint Thomas. Considering the value of the crops, land 
can yet be secured at reasonable prices. The scarcity of the water-supply has hitherto 
limited the cultivated acreage, but artesian irrigation to reclaim the remainder of the 
arable lands is believed to be feasible. This little valley is capable of supporting 500 
families on twenty-acre tracts, with an adequate water-supply. For additional information, 
address Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce, Logan, Nevada. 

THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY 

About sixty miles southwest of Moapa on the railroad is Las Vegas, situated in 
what was once believed to be an inhospitable desert- — aside from the Vegas spring in 
the center of the valley and the spots made fertile by the flow of mountain creeks along 
the base of the surrounding hills. Today this desert is being transformed into a 
wonderfully fertile oasis ; slowly perhaps, relative to its great extent, but the encroachment 
of the farms upon the desert has now reached several thousand acres and is rapidly 
increasing. In 1 906 the first artesian well was drilled, developing a strong flow of 
subterranean water under 300 feet depth. It was several years before the full importance 
of the discovery began to attract the attention it deserved. About two years ago artesian 
well drilling began in earnest, with the result that a large number of wells are now flowing 
and drill machines are constantly at work developing new flows. Not all the soil of the 
valley is arable, ov/ing to the presence in places of hardpan or a stratum of gypsum 
close to the surface and in other places alkali, but aside from these there are extensive 
tracts of good soil made especially valuable by reason of the climatic conditions. Even 
on much of this thin soil with suitable treatment crops of all the sha'low-rooted varieties 
will produce abundant harvests. The range of crops is about the same as at Moapa, 
and on the best lands enormous yields of grapes, cantaloupes, watermelons, lettuce, fruit, 
large and small, are grown. There is room about Las Vegas for a large farm population, 
and here twenty to forty acres of average soil with a flowing well spells opulence. 
The Carey Act project of the Las Vegas Irrigated Fruit Lands Company in drilling 
wells to open up an 8,000-acre tract for colonization, 

LAS VEGAS is a thriving town of 1,500 population, with attractive business 
buildings and charming residences, oiled streets, schools, churches, banks, and an 
atmosphere of enterprise and prosperitv in keeping with its outlook as ultimately the 
distributing center for one of the largest and richest agricultural sections of the State. 
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce will supply any information on request. 

THE PAHRUMP VALLEY 

West of Las Vegas, across the Charleston Range which is well timbered and 
contains many beautiful mountain parks, lies Pahrump Valley with about 75,000 acres 
of arable land. The elevation at Manse is 2,775 feet. At Manse and at Pahrump, 
about seven miles apart, are two great springs which supply water for the irrigation of 
about 1 ,000 acres, transforming the desert into an oasis of subtropical vegetation. 
The range of crops is about the same as at Las Vegas and Moapa. In this valley 
is an empire of the most fertile character, provided that artesian water can be found 
as abundantly as at Las Vegas. The Pahrump Valley Land & Water Company, a 
Carey Act project, is actively engaged in drilling to determine if subterranean waters 
exist to reclaim a tract of 15,740 acres. If this exploration proves successful, in a 
few years will be opened up for entrymen a country second to none in the Southwest 

61 



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for subtropical fertility. While as yet the valley is without railroad communication, 
both Pahrump and Manse are within thirty miles of the Tonopah & Las Vegas 
Railway and a less distance to the Tonopah & Tidewater Railway. The agricultural 
development of the valley will in time insure a branch line from one or both. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Agricultural Development Stimulated by the Mining Industry 

We have previously referred to the exceptional local markets for agricultural crops 
in Nevada due to the excess proportion of the population engaged in mining and other 
non-agricultural pursuits. The mining industry in the State since the culmination of 
the great mining boom, beginning in 1901 and ending in 1907, is not on the wane, as 
many not familiar with the progress of the industry since the latter year may suppose. 
Legitimate mining — the exploitation of the State's wonderful deposits of mineral wealth — 
has made greater strides durmg the years smce the so-called "boom" collapsed than 
ever before. A comparison of the mineral output at present with the preceding sensational 
period will show that the annual production of gold, silver and copper has increased 
from $21,500,000 in 1907 to approximately $40,000,000 for the year 1911. The 
mines are being exploited and not the public, which accounts for the enormous increase 
m mineral production. The former great mining discoveries are now thoroughly equipped 
with modern hoisting and reduction works. The older mining camps, such as the 
Comstock Lode, Austin, Pioche, etc., due to advanced metallurgical processes and the 
introduction of hydro-electric power, are taking on new leases of life. Also new 
discoveries of great importance not widel}'^ heralded are becoming substantial producers. 
The copper mines at Ely are now practically the first in importance in the world. 
At Yerington are great copper mines which, after ten years of development, the latter 
part of this year will begin turning out copper ingots from the new smelter at Wabuska. 

The opening up of great ore bodies in new regions and at greater depths at Tonopah 
have advanced the production of that district enormously and extended the probable life 
of the camp indefinitely. Goldfield continues its unexampled production with no 
indications of probable abatement for a decade at least. 

To supply the hundreds of mining camps and discoveries, great and small, ih; 
Nevada farmer finds a constant market for many kinds of crops and at a range of 
prices higher than obtained elsewhere in America. 



INFORMATION' 

For further or special information regarding the State of Nevada, address 
Nevada Bureau of Industry, Agriculture and Irrigation, Carson City, Nevada. 
Any representative of the Traffic Departments of the Southern Pacific, Western 
Pacific, or San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake railroads throughout the country 
will be pleased on application to answer inquiries about the State, including 
railwav rates and service. 



63 




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